


Speed Dating

by drainbamage954 (cats_cradle6766)



Series: Models and Music [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Models and Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 03:24:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2757764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_cradle6766/pseuds/drainbamage954
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kris and Chanyeol's friends and fellows decide that they need to improve their personal lives, the two get signed up for speed dating. It just, well, doesn't go exactly as planned.  First story in the Models and Music Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kris 1

**Author's Note:**

> First story of the Models and Music Series. Written 8/2012

Kris 1: 

 

The door buzzes, an obnoxious sound that makes everyone who hears it frown and seems to leave a sort of irritation in the depths of your ear that you can never reach.

Whoever created the damn sound should either be praised for their genius of making the most irritating sound in the world or dragged out into the street and shot.

“Come in,” Kris says, tapping the lock mechanism absently, eyes never leaving the papers currently occupying 78% of his attention, eyebrows furrowed slightly. 

“Sorry to bother you when you’re so clearly involved with more important things, but-“ 

“Luhan, shut up and get on with it,” Kris says, eyes still on the figures and scrawling numbers in front of him. He hears Luhan huff slightly and a feeling of satisfaction tweaks what some people might foolishly refer to as ‘his emotions’.

“Lay is here to see you,” Luhan says, his previous professional composure completely dropped. Kris looks up, eyebrow raised over his black glasses. Luhan is standing in the center of the room, hip popped, and looking somewhat annoyed.

“Why is Lay here?” Kris asks, finally putting the papers aside.

Luhan tilts his head just slightly to the side and gives Kris a look that the other knows to associate with an ‘I’m about to be very sarcastic’ response. “He wants to tilt all of the paintings in your office just slightly so that your OCD causes you to spontaneously combust.”

“Funny,” Kris says, taking off his glasses with an elegant sweep of his large hand. “Have you ever considered a career in comedy?”

Luhan smiles sweetly at him. “Where would I have time to entertain others when I’m so busy making sure you eat properly and stay alive?”

“My heart is bursting with warmth,” Kris says, leaning back in his chair. “Go get him. Let’s see what the Scarecrow wants from me now?”

Luhan makes a swift nod to his superior, quickly gliding from the room with elegance only years of being a fine tuned office secretary can afford and Kris sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closes his eyes. 

It has been a long day. Wait, scratch that. It has been a long Five years. Five years since he became CEO of EXO M, the now top male modeling agency in the country. Five years of paperwork, beautiful men, and pants that are way too tight to be worn for comfort. FIve years of late nights, migraines, and fancy parties with people who don’t eat enough and smile like porcelain dolls. 

Kris is beginning to think that he might, just maybe, be tired. 

“You look like living death,” Lay says, walking into the office, Luhan trailing after him, a folder with what looks like more paperwork clutched under his arm. 

“That’s an oxymoron. Remind me why I gave you a job?” Kris says, still not opening his eyes but letting his hand fall gracefully from the bridge his nose. 

“Because somewhere under all of those scowls and model stares and snarky self-obsessed commentary, you’re a big squishy teddy bear that loves me,” Lay says, flopping down into one of the expensive Italian leather armchairs in front of Kris’s desk and smirking lazily at his CEO.

Kris smiles in what he knows is an entirely fake fashion. “What do you want?”

Lay’s expression turns slightly serious. “I want for you to stop fooling yourself you’re happy and get back in the real world,” he says, voice sounding much more sincere than it had 10 seconds ago. Kris closes his eyes and stands up abruptly, walking to the window. “Yi Fan,” Lay says, and Kris can hear him stand up, the leather squeaking slightly and he holds up a hand. Lay ignores him. “I’m serious. I’ve been watching you do nothing but work yourself into a near coma for four years from the sidelines and the past year from up close.”

“I’m aware of what my occupation demands of me,” Kris says, a note of finality in his voice. 

“Are you?” Lay says, his voice sounding extremely skeptical. “I don’t care how much you lie to me or yourself, but you’re not happy. Maybe with the company, yes, but not yourself.”

“Yixing!” Kris says, using his friend’s given name and turning sharply and glaring. Lay just frowns determinately at him,

Luhan softly clears his voice and both men turn to look at him. “Honestly, usually I’m not one to go against you, Kris, but Lay has a point. I may not be your best friend, but I am pretty sure that I see you pretty much as often as one does their wife and, honestly, your life is not healthy.”

“What, are you two suggesting I go take up water polo or something?” Kris says, scowling at the two of them. “Start playing golf? Yoga? I have an entire company to run, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Oh, please,” Luhan says, walking up and throwing the folder on Kris’s mahogany desk. “You can afford to slack off a little. God knows I could do your job and mine and some days, I do.”

Kris scowls at the shorter man. “Don’t push your luck, Luhan,” he says, voice sounding more tired that he means for it to. 

Luhan huffs. “Look, Lay is right and you need something to make you less like an angry dragon every time you open your eyes.”

Kris sighs, placing both hands on his desk and leaning on it slightly, looking up at the two people he somehow considers his closest friends. “And you two have an idea, I’m guessing, on how to make me suddenly infinitely happy?”

“Naturally,” Luhan says, and gestures to the folder he had previously thrown onto the desk. “You are signed up for this coming Friday.”

Kris gives a raised eyebrow to Luhan before flipping open the folder. “Super Shiny Speed Dating Service,” he reads and looks up at Luhan and Lay, both of whom are watching him carefully. He takes a moment to purse his lips. “Absolutely not.”

The reaction is instantaneous. Lay throws his arms up into the air with exasperation and Luhan looks like he’s eating very unripe lemons. “Kris-” Lay groans.

“No,” Kris cuts him off with a stern look. 

“Kris,” Luhan says, voice level and Kris glares at his personal secretary. 

“I am not going speed dating,” Kris says sternly.

Luhan sighs and walks two steps forward, closing his eyes briefly. “Kris,” he says softly and directly. “I am not suggesting this as your secretary, I am asking you as your friend and a concerned bystander.” He blinks and is eyes acquire a slightly pouting shine in them, his face shifting just slightly into ‘Luhan-cute-pleading-face’ and silently Kris knows he’s lost. “I am not saying you have to come away from one day married and Willy Wonka happy, just that you need to loosen up before you snap.”

“And possibly come in wielding an AK47 and destroy all of your hard work on a stress induced killing spree,” Lay adds, his eyes gleaming humorously. 

Luhan shoots him a dirty look for interrupting him as he lays his magic pout down for the killing blow. 

Kris’s mouth quirks awkwardly at Lay’s comment. He looks down at the paper on his desk. “Super Shiny Speed Dating Service,” he reads the name again before looking up at Luhan. “Where the hell did you find someone with a name like this?”

Luhan gives him a calculating look. “They actually come highly recommended, despite their name choice,” he says, his secretary voice easily melting into his words. “As a matchmaking agency and romantic assistance program, they’re top rated for their work with an alarming success rate.”

Kris raised his eyebrows. “You don’t say,” he says and Luhan smirks at him. 

“I do say,” Luhan says, and nods at the folder again. “And you’re going. This Friday. At seven o’clock sharp.”

Kris frowns. “I don’t leave here usually until nine.”

“You’re leaving early,” Luhan says simply, his gaze leaving no room for question. 

“I own this company,” Kris says, frowning still and looking between his secretary and his friend. 

“And you need to own a social life,” Lay says, giving Kris a pointed look. “Or a romantic life in this case.”

Kris takes a moment of looking between the two men currently occupying his office and apparently controlling his life. “I don’t know how I feel about you two bullying me. I could fire you both, you know.”

Luhan just laughs. “You love us,” he says, eyes sparkling. “And you’d die without us making sure you remember to eat and sleep.”

Somewhere, in the strange recesses of his mind, Kris can’t help but agree with them. Just a little bit.

-

Friday night finds Kris, having been forced from his office by an extremely ruffled looking Luhan and an amused Lay into his car and off to the conference room of the downtown Hilton hotel. It had been an even longer week that he had initially thought it would be. The newest part time model, Jongin, stage named ‘Kai’ had been going through some sort of family crisis and had missed an exhibit where he was supposed to have been displaying some of Tao’s new specially designed styles.

The head designer had not been pleased and Kris had been put through major press and paperwork and clean up when the show had nearly collapsed and Tao had gone into a breakdown (openly crying and flailing about dangerously) for two hours in his studio. 

The absolute last thing he wanted to do this evening was to go to some stupid Speed Dating meeting that Luhan and Lay had signed him up for where he had to listen to expensive women talk about their posh lives and size him up as their ticket to continue buying expensive things for the rest of their expensive lives. No, what he wanted to do right now was go home, turn on his stereo as loud as he could stand is and forget that he was so far from a home and a time when he never had to worry about anything.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Kris is dragged from his musings as his driver calls to him politely, already standing with the door open for him and waiting for him to exit the car. “We have arrived at the Hilton.”

“Thank you, Taemin,” Kris says and elegantly stands from the sleek black car into the almost too hot summer air. Taemin just bows and shuffles over to the driver’s side of the car. Kris knows without having to be informed by his driver that the young man will be back as soon as the event is over, waiting patiently and perfectly for him at the hotel entrance. He knows this because, if anything else were the case, Taemin would not have a job anymore.

The Hilton conference room is fancy and well decorated with comfy chairs, a refreshments table, large paintings, and other such expensive things. There is a large line of tables all set up by one side of the room and a huge open space opposite, with chairs scattered here and there as people mill about and talk to each other over sparkling water and fancy cheese. Kris smirks to himself. 

“Hello,” an attractive face says to him, smiling warmly. “You must be Kris Wu, CEO of EXO M.” 

Kris flashes a well-practiced smile and takes the offered hand. “Yes, that would be me,” he replies easily. “I hope you weren’t waiting on me.” He leans in slightly to the still smiling man.

The good bone structure laughs slightly and shakes his head. “Oh no, not at all. We were just settling down. We have maybe one or two more to arrive before we begin. Please help yourself to something to eat or drink. I’m Ryeowook, by the way.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ryeowook,” Kris says, dropping the others hand after the required three shakes. There is an art to these events and he’s spent far too much time mastering them. 

“I hope we can help you find someone here,” Ryeowook says, still smiling as he gestures Kris into the room. “Our company isn’t exactly known for it's failures.”

Kris nods to him. “Good to know,” he says and Ryeowook’s eye glint.

Kris has barely had time to get himself a glass of sparkling water and talk to the people surrounding him before everyone is being called to please take seats at the tables with their names on them. Once they are all seated at their respective spaces, an impeccably dressed and attractive man steps up and claps his hands. 

“Good evening, ladies and gentleman, “ he says, smiling perfectly at all of them. Kris briefly thinks that he wants this man working for him before he realizes he has enough divas to deal with. “I’d like to first thank you all for coming to this evenings gathering and for choosing Super Shiny Speed Dating. My name is Key, as on behalf of all of us, I hope we won’t let you down.” He grins a dazzling smile at all of them and winks. 

“For those that don't know how this works, each ‘date’ will last a total of five minutes. Spend that time getting to know each other, chatting, and seeing if you are interested in potentially getting to know the other person more. If you want to continue contact, write down their name and at the end of the evening, we will find who matches with whom.”

The group gives its various responses of understanding, some vocal, most just simply nodding their heads. Kris just smiles. 

“Alright, without further ado, let the speed dating begin!” 

Kris turns to look at the woman opposite him and feels his smile tighten. He doesn’t know her, has never met her before, but from her designer dress, perfectly manicured nails, sleek hair and fake coy smile, Kris can tell he’s going to hate the next 5 minutes. The timer goes off and Kris locks his smile in place.

-

After about thirty minutes pass, Ryeowook calls for a break, the group getting up and making their way to the refreshments, some of the men and women continuing to chat idly. Kris smiles at a few people as he passes them, a few of the women blushing as his eyes drift over theirs. He continues to smile.

Well, that is until he nearly runs into someone. 

Kris thanks God for his unnatural balance as he catches himself from bowling both himself and the other person to the ground in a heap of limbs and clothing. The other, a tall man, turns around with a shocked expression. One look at the other’s face has Kris just slightly taken aback. It’s immaculately sculpted and formed. He should know, he runs a male modeling business. Good jaw structure, fine cheek bones, a high brow line, straight nose over full lips, he would make an excellent specimen with his long limbs and figure. 

“Wow, proximity” the good face says, and his voice is low, startlingly low for such a face. “Did you almost just run into me?”

Kris blinks. “No,” he says simply. “You’re just in the way.”

The other man looks at him for a moment, face settling to a more neutral expression. “In the way?” he parrots, looking at Kris under long bangs before glancing to the side. “Oh, you mean the food.”

Kris rolls his eyes. Of course all pretty faces lack brains. His mind flashes to that American film he watched as a teenager. But why male models? “No, I mean the naked ladies,” he says and leans around the other to pick up a glass of water. 

The other man grins and suddenly Kris wonders just what the hell happened because something is seriously wrong with his right eye. It’s in some sort of strange wink but not quite wink and more like a facial twitch and Kris just can’t stop staring at it. And that doesn't even begin to cover what’s going on with the rest of his face. 

“That would make this thing a whole lot better, don’t you think?”

Kris feels his socializing mask slipping as he stares in sick fascination at the others face and tries to take a drink of water but can’t quite look away from that face and ends up spilling some of it down his chin. The cold water is enough to snap him out of his reverie. He jerks slightly and immediately brings a hand up to brush lightly at his chin. 

The other man just laughs and the sound is deep, deep enough to make Kris look back up at him and wonder just how someone can be so attractive and yet a train wreck at the same time. “Chanyeol.” Kris just stares for a second before he registers the hand being offered to him. 

Kris straightens his back slightly and smiles, this time feeling like some of it is actually genuine, and takes the other hand. “Kris,” he says and Chanyeol shakes it with just a little too much force and letting go after five shakes, two too many. He’s new to this.

“So what do you do?” Chanyeol asks, grabbing a glass of water for himself and shoving a cracker into his mouth. 

Kris just watches him for a second before taking another sip of water. “I’m the CEO of EXO M.”

“The modeling agency?” Chanyeol asks, eyebrows raised as he nibbles on another cracker. Definitely new to this kind of world.

“Yes,” Kris says, feeling his mouth quirk and wondering why.

“So, are you like gay or something?” Chanyeol asks, taking another gulp of water and Kris almost chokes on air.

“What?” Kris says, frowning.

“Wow, your face looks really intense when you frown,” Chanyeol says, leaning a little bit closer to him, eyes wide. “Is that what you do for your modeling shoots?”

Kris feels his eyebrow twitch upwards. “I run the company,” he says. “I don’t model.”

“But you could,” Chanyeol says, leaning backwards again and looking at him with what Kris assumes is a calculating look but which instead just looks somewhat confused. 

“Are you calling me attractive?” Kris says, amused.

Chanyeol frowns and suddenly, as those eyebrows come down and his face settles, Kris just can’t look away. “I dunno, I’m saying you look good for a guy. Not as amazing as me of course but… ” He doesn’t finish. 

“Of course I look good,” Kris says, smirking. “Have you ever seen someone unattractive in charge of a modeling agency?”

“I’ve never met anyone in charge of a modeling agency,” Chanyeol says, shifting his weight.

They go silent for a moment and Kris can see a number of women lingering in his peripheral vision, just at an acceptable distance, waiting for their chance to pounce and simper at him. And before he knows what he’s doing, Kris is asking Chanyeol, “So, what about you?”

“Hm?” Chanyeol says, looking up with slightly wide eyes. “Do I model?” Kris just stares at him in disbelief. “I mean, I know I’m dead sexy but-“

“Job,” Kris says, feeling like one word sentences are all he can handle right now. 

“Oh,” Chanyeol says and barks out a laugh. “I work at Planet Records. It’s not a huge company but we’ve been growing pretty fast in the past year,” he tells Kris’s slightly furrowed eyebrows. “I’m the Executive Producer of the actual recording department.”

“Fancy,” Kris says, smirking.

“Try not to drool over me,” Chanyeol says, smiling far too widely. 

“I’ll do my best,” Kris says, taking another sip of water. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Ryeowook says, walking up to them gracefully. “But we are beginning again and if you would please go take your seats where we left off, we would like to get started.”

Chanyeol and Kris nod and separate, walking back to their seats. Key gets up and claps his hands together again. “I hope you enjoyed the brief break. Anyway, we are going to get started again and pick up where we left off. Good luck!”

Kris looks down at the paper in front of him where he’s supposed to be writing down names of people he’s interested in contacting. It’s blank. He sighs and thinks about how if he comes back from this with no names or numbers, Luhan is gong to bludgeon him. He looks up at the woman sitting in front of him, smiling her expensive smile and, for a brief moment, sees a flash of teeth in a too wide smile and a right eye that squints far more than the left. 

He swallows thickly.

-


	2. Chanyeol 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been two years since Chanyeol was truly happy, and rather than an intervention, it seems his friends prefer using an ultimatum to get him back on the track to finding happiness.

Chanyeol 1:

Two years ago, Chanyeol had been inexplicably happy. The world was made of sunshine and rainbows and unicorns and everything he put into his mouth tasted like ice cream and small children laughing. Everywhere he went, everything he did, seemed to have some sort of euphoric sheen to it that made him grin with all the joy in the universe.

Baekhyun had called him Happy Virus because his happiness just wouldn’t die. 

But it didn’t matter. Everything was lovely and wonderful and when he held her hand, looked into her eyes, everything was her and nothing hurt. 

Until it did. 

Until everything came crashing down in a rush of hurt and she was gone. Vanished. Disappeared and Chanyeol never really did know the reason. Didn’t understand because you’re supposed to stay with the person you love for your whole life and grow old and wrinkly and horribly unattractive and still, somehow, love each other stupid. 

Happy Virus had become Sad Virus had become Depressed Virus had become Chanyeol curled up in one of Baekhyun’s forts staring into space hollowly and Baekhyun not knowing what to do anymore. 

That was two years ago. Now, two years later, Chanyeol is staring his boss in the face and wondering, not for the first time, how Suho can look so angry and still smile at the same time. Kyungsoo, standing just off to the side, just looks placid with his overly large and somewhat creepy eyes. 

“I don’t understand the question,” Chanyeol says, frowning slightly at Suho as the elder closes his eyes, one hand resting lazily on his hip. “Can you say it again with less hate?”

“Chanyeol,” Suho says and is still smiling. “Your work needs to get better. Now.” 

Chanyeol frowns. “What’s wrong with my work?”

“The same the thing that’s been wrong with it for the past six months years,” Kyungsoo says. “It lacks passion and any life.”

Chanyeol glowers at the shorter man. “My work is amazing. It’s made by me so how could it not be?”

“Of course your work is fantastic,” Suho says, waving a hand dismissively, his voice taking a slightly sarcastic tone. “It’s always fantastic. What am I even suggesting? How could it not be when you are the great Park Chanyeol? Incapable of any flaws.” 

“I’m so glad you seem to finally understand,” Chanyeol says, beaming brightly at his superior and internally cheering when Suho’s head drops in futility. 

“Chanyeol, your work needs to improve or you’re fired,” Suho says quietly yet definitively to his desk and Chanyeol grins, choking out a laugh.

“You’re joking,” Chanyeol says, deep voice amused before he catches the looks on the other man’s faces and chokes on nothing. “What?!” he spits out, looking at Suho in shock. “You can’t fire me! I- I run half of this company! I fucking started it with you! What kind of shit ultimatum is this?”

“Wow, he catches on quick,” Kyungsoo says to Suho, who raises an eyebrow at his personal secretary and Chanyeol suddenly feels extremely left out.

“Ultimatum?” the taller repeats, looking between his boss and his boss’s secretary perplexedly. “You're actually giving me a real ultimatum?”

Suho fixes him with a look. “Either you improve your own personal life and therefore your work, or you’re being demoted to store manager.”

“You’re fucking me,” Chanyeol says, feeling dead. 

“No, I’m not,” Suho says. “And never would, though I wish someone was.” Chanyeol winces. “My point is your personal life has been bleeding into your work far too much lately, almost as much as it did two years ago but that was a positive blend.” 

Chanyeol winces again and looks to the side at nothing. “There is nothing wrong with my personal life,” he says, feeling somewhat morose. 

“Really?” Kyungsoo says, and Chanyeol can hear his raised eyebrows. “Because last I checked, you were single, refuse to date and instead spend all of your time whining to Baekhyun, frowning at happy music, or sulking at your computer screen. Which, I might add, still has a picture of her on it.”

Chanyeol turns to stare daggers at the wide-eyed secretary, who simply stares back defiantly. “I do not frown at happy music, I produce it.”

“Technically I produce it once you’re done feeling sad about yourself,” Suho says, sitting down at his desk and pulling out a few papers from a folder. “I’m intervening.”

“This is an intervention and a sacking?” Chanyeol scoffs, feigned surprise in his voice. “Oh, how exciting.”

“Shut up,” Suho says, and Chanyeol hates how the man never frowns. “Either you improve your personal life and remember what happiness feels like or you’re A: demoted to sales manager or B: fired.”

“I hope you die in your sleep, old man,” Chanyeol grumbles. “Fine, fine. I’ll go find a date or something.”

“You honestly think we trust you with yourself?” Kyungsoo says, amusement coloring every word. “Wow, that’s amusing.”

“I am a grown man!” Chanyeol says, jabbing a thumb at himself.

“You’re a child in a man’s body,” Kyungsoo says, smirking in satisfaction.

“Why do you pay him?” Chanyeol demands of Suho pointing to Kyungsoo. 

“Because he keeps me organized and alive and thus assists in keeping this company organized and working,” Suho says, ignoring the jibe at his age. “You’re going speed dating.”

Chanyeol blinks. “I’m doing what?”

“Speed dating,” Suho repeats, holding out a few papers to Chanyeol. “I had Kyungsoo arrange it and sign you up.”

“Why?” Chanyeol says, frowning at Suho.

“Because I want you to stop moping and whining and giving me chronic headaches,” Suho says tersely. 

Chanyeol stares at Suho and Kyungsoo in disbelief. “You’re making me go speed dating?” he says in disbelief. “At,” he pauses to look at the paper before laughing. “Super Shiny Speed Dating Service. Wow, you pick winners, Kyungsoo.”

“They’re the number one rated speed dating service,” Kyungsoo says calmly, shifting his weight gently. “So shut up and accept it.”

Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows and looks at the page. “I just have to go to this and we’re good right?”

“You have to go and have at least five dates by the time the three sessions are done,” Suho clarifies.

“Three sessions?!” Chanyeol blurts out, feeling horrible. 

“Or five successful dates and a significant improvement here at work,” Suho says, smiling.

Chanyeol pauses, silent for a moment and shifting his weight. “What if I get a dog?” he proposes and Kyungsoo and Suho both groan.

-

Baekhyun stares at him over the coffee bar, eyes wide for a second before he bursts out laughing. “You’re going what exactly?” he asks, breathless.

Chanyeol frowns at his best friend darkly. “You heard me,” he says, pulling his large vanilla latte towards himself and taking a sip. 

“I just can’t believe you’re not joking,” Baekhyun says, shaking his head and smiling to himself as he packs down espresso. He pauses and looks up at Chanyeol. “You’re not joking, right?”

“Why would I joke about something like losing my job?” Chanyeol says, raising an eyebrow at the smaller man, eyes lidded in heavy eyeliner. 

“But,” Baekhyun, going back to packing down highly caffeinated coffee. “Speed dating. It just, well, it’s not anything I would have ever seen you doing.”

“You and me both,” Chanyeol says, looking around the café absently. “I see you’re doing well.”

“I own a fort café,” Baekhyun says, smiling as he dusts his hands of unnecessarily. “It’s the perfect combination of childhood, cuteness, and caffeine. Of course I’m doing well.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am,” Chanyeol says, smirking at Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun just shakes his head. “So, are you going?”

“Where?” 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, hands resting on his hips. “Speed dating.”

Chanyeol looks at his drink, the foam slowly deflating. “Do I have a choice? Speeding dating or my job. I think I’ll go with the speed dating.”

Baekhyun just looks at him for a moment, seeming to ponder something from the expression on his face. “I think it’ll be good for you,” he says finally, and smiles gently.

Chanyeol raises his eyebrows. “And why do you think this?”

Baekhyun just continues to smile softly. “Chanyeol,” he says soothingly and Chanyeol feels his blood go slightly cold, knowing what is coming next. “It’s been two years. It’s about time you moved on and let someone else into that heart of yours.”

Chanyeol looks determinately at a couple, currently having more difficulty that they should setting up their own fort out of pillows and blankets, laughing with each other and exchanging too happy smiles. “I’m fine.”

He hears Baekhyun sigh. “Do you know why I think you come in here almost every day?” the smaller man asks, walking out from behind the bar and coming to stand next to Chanyeol as the other continues to watch the couple. 

“Because I’m an amazing friend,” Chanyeol says as the girl lightly hits the boy with a pillow and his glasses fall off his grinning face. 

“No,” Baekhyun says, pressing his hip gently into Chanyeol’s side. “It’s because, despite what great company I am, you want to be part of this again. Part of what they have.” He gestures towards the couple and something inside of Chanyeol’s chest clenches.

-

Chanyeol has never seen so many expensive and well-dressed people all looking expensive and important in one room before. This would be something Suho does. Often. Being the owner of their company, he’s supposed to be the one to go to parties, gatherings, and social events, that constantly smiling face representing their industry and promoting endlessly.

Chanyeol is the one who is supposed to stay locked in the company offices, working late and frowning at computer screens and recordings, finding ways to improve songs or music files or look over the writer’s submissions. He’s not meant for things like this with his too long legs and arms that he never quite figured out. 

Chanyeol stands by the expensive cheese, staring at all of the people around him and feeling like his best suit is just a few hundreds of dollars short for this little party. He smiles at a few of the women around him who, after a quick look up and down at him, smile back tentatively. Maybe this won't be so bad. 

A friendly looking and extremely well dressed man sidles up beside him and Chanyeol smiles at him. “Well don't you look nervous,” the man says, and smiles extremely white teeth.

Chanyeol smiles back and pokes at a bit of cheese on his plate. “I’ve just been out of the dating world for a while,” he says to the other. 

“Have you now?” the other man says, with a raised eyebrow. 

Chanyeol laughs. “Yeah, with a face like mine it’s hard to believe,” he says grinning.

The other man just stares, smile fixed on his face pleasantly. After a moment he says, “Oh, you’re joking." He laughs. "Sorry, my name is Key.” He holds out his hand.

Chanyeol frowns slightly at the ‘joking’ but takes the man’s hand anyway. “Chanyeol,” he replies. 

“Oh, Park Chanyeol from Planet Records,” Key says, dropping his hand after three shakes exactly. “Yes, I remember your secretary sounding very exasperated about you.” Chanyeol’s grin falters and Key laughs. “It’s fine. My company is designed to help people. Which I hope we can do for you.”

“Your company?” Chanyeol says and Key nods. “Cool. Yes, well, I also hope that things turn out well. I’m clearly in need of a… something as your heard from Kyungsoo.”

Key raises a perfect eyebrow. “Yes, a ‘something’,” he repeats before his eyes flit somewhere. “Excuse me Mr. Park, but I believe our last guest has arrived and we will be starting soon.” With a light touch to his arm, Key glides off, leaving Chanyeol wondering who taught him how to communicate. 

A few minutes later and Key is calling them all together to sit down at their proper seats and look at who they’re supposed to talk to for the next five minutes. Chanyeol is seated across from a pretty woman who has on a nice blue dress and a pearl necklace. She is currently smiling pleasantly with her hands folded in front of her, waiting for their cue to interact.

The buzzer goes and Chanyeol smiles nervously. “Hi,” he says and earns the same smile in return.

“Hello,” the woman says and Chanyeol sees her look him up and down just a little. “I’m Sohee.”

“Chanyeol,” Chanyeol says and isn’t sure if he is supposed to shake her hand or not. “What do you do?”

Sohee quirks her head to the side as she looks at him. “I’m the top fashion CEO of Effects Designs,” she says smoothly, her hair falling gracefully over her shoulders. “I work together with one of my close friends and designers on most projects. She’s the one who said I should come here to try to find someone. I’ve been mostly out of the dating world for a while, my life pretty much revolving around the company, you see.” She laughs and her voice is light and Chanyeol finds himself smiling. “What about you?”

“I work for Planet records. I’m the Head of the Recording Department. The CEO, one of my good friends, got tired of seeing me married to my work and signed me up for here,” Chanyeol finishes with a smile. “So, Sohee,” he continues. “What else about you? Do you like long walks on the beach or romantic Italian dinners? Or are you more of a baseball game fanatic.”

Sohee laughs again and Chanyeol begins to feel that maybe this isn’t such a bad thing when she cocks her head to the side and says, “actually, I prefer polo to baseball. I find English sports much more interesting than American.”

And Chanyeol feels horribly inadequate.

-

Thirty minutes later finds Chanyeol getting up and glancing down at his currently empty sheet of contacts he wants to see again and feeling slightly sick. They’ve been called for a break by one of the other members of Super Shiny Speed Dating and Chanyeol immediately makes a beeline for the refreshments table, hoping to heaven that there’s alcohol.

There isn’t so he makes do with shoving five grapes in his mouth and standing back slightly, letting his eyes fall closed as he tries to block out the mess that is both this evening and his life. 

There’s a small noise behind him and he turns around to find someone standing much more in his personal space than he would have imagined anyone to do at one of these shindigs. “Wow, proximity,” he says before his brain even registers sound coming from his mouth. The other man looks somewhat startled to be standing so close to him and from the angle of his limbs and body, he isn’t there intentionally. “Did you almost just run into me?” he asks.

The other man, whose face is almost too good to be real now that he’s looking at it properly, blinks at him and his eyebrows drop a little bit. “No,” he says and shifts back slightly into a more comfortable standing position. “You’re just in the way.”

Chanyeol just looks at him, not sure whether to take that as some sort of indirect insult and feeling slightly astounded at how tall the other man is. For once, he’s not the only person towering over everyone else. “In the way?” he repeats, glancing to the side slightly. The food table. “Oh, you mean the food.” He turns back to the other man just in time to see him roll his eyes. 

“No, I mean the naked ladies,” the other man says, leaning around Chanyeol slightly and picking up a glass of water before gracefully standing back. A part of Chanyeol wonders why the man didn't just walk around him and put more distance between them but he’s a little too busy just starting at the other’s hands. Which are huge. 

Then Chanyeol’s mind registers what the other man has said and he grins widely. “That would make this whole thing a lot better, don’t you think?” he says. The other man just stares at him, his face doing something Chanyeol can’t quite identify as he raises his water glass to his mouth, apparently intent on taking a drink but something goes wrong and suddenly there’s water dripping down his face. 

Chanyeol laughs as the other man jerks slightly, apparently not expecting to spill water down his face and quickly wipes his chin with the back of his hand. He looks back at Chanyeol and for once Chanyeol doesn’t feel uncomfortable or obligated to hold out his hand in invitation. “Chanyeol,” he tells the other, smiling. 

The other man just stares for a moment before he seems to understand and he straightens up slightly, smiling a little bit more realistically and taking Chanyeol’s hand. “Kris,” he tells Chanyeol as Chanyeol shakes his hand, not really wanting to let go of the large warmth currently encompassing his hand. There’s something warm and comforting about Kris’ hand that he likes and can’t quite place why. He drops his hand after shaking five times.

“So,” Chanyeol says, grabbing his own water glass. “What do you do?” He shoves a cracker into his mouth for good measure.

Kris just takes a sip of water. “I’m the CEO of EXO M,” he says casually as if he’s commenting on curtain colors or the weather. 

Chanyeol raises his eyebrows, recognizing the name of the company. God knows Jongin hadn’t shut up about it since he had been accepted there to work part time while staying on working as a trainee for Chanyeol. “The modeling agency?” he asks, trying to make sure he has his facts straight. 

“Yes,” Kris answers and his mouth twitches slightly. 

Chanyeol doesn’t know what’s wrong with his mouth. “So, are you like gay or something?” he asks before taking a large gulp of water. A part of him screams that it’s a perfectly legitimate question, especially considering Jongin, now a male model, is ridiculously flaming despite his definite masculine attributes.

Kris seems to choke on nothing, eyes going wide and face falling into a frown. “What?” he says but Chanyeol is too busy suddenly staring at him. “Wow, you’re face is really intense when you frown,” he says, staring in awe as Kris’ face darkens and takes on an entirely different aura. Dark and intense and somewhat alluring. He feels his eyes widening. “Is that what you do for your modeling shoots?”

Those eyebrows curve upwards slightly. “I run the company,” Kris says evenly. “I don’t model.”

“But you could,” Chanyeol says, leaning back and finally surveying Kris from head to toe. He’s a bit like Chanyeol, actually, except he apparently has learned how to make his long limbs elegant rather than awkward. His entire body screams ‘fine tuned.’ The only thing that seems out of place are his hands, large and impressive and Chanyeol just wants to grab them and stare, running his fingers over their vast expanses. 

“Are you calling me attractive?” Kris asks, and the amusement in his voice snaps Chanyeol out of his musings about hands. 

Chanyeol frowns at the comment, thinking, for a moment, about what he’s said and then about how Kris looks. “I dunno,” he says honestly. “I’m saying you look good for a guy. Not as amazing as me of course, but…” he trails off, not quite sure how to finish that. He can hear Baekhyun in the back of his mind saying _'I’m sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am'._

Kris is smirking. “Of course I look good,” he says. “Have you ever seen someone unattractive in charge of a modeling agency?”

Chanyeol shifts his weight. “I’ve never met anyone in charge of a modeling agency,” he says honestly. 

Kris doesn’t say anything and they lapse into silence for a moment. Chanyeol feels strangely okay with the lack of sound, something he’d usually impulsively shatter the moment it became too long. But for now it seems okay. To just stand in silence with this other tall man with his large hands and slightly frowning face. 

“So, what about you?” Kris asks and it takes Chanyeol a beat to realize he’s been asked a question. 

“Hm?” Chanyeol congratulates himself on his verbosity. “Do I model?” Kris just looks at him with what Chanyeol is sure must be disbelief. “I mean, I know I’m dead sexy but-“

“Job,” Kris says, cutting him off before Chanyeol’s mouth runs away with him. 

And surprisingly Chanyeol’s mouth stops and he just says “Oh,” before barking out a laugh he’s sure isn’t appropriate for this sort of gathering. “I work at Planet Records. It’s not a huge company but we’ve been growing pretty fast in the past year,” he explains his life under slightly furrowed eyebrows and wonders how he can tell Kris this with such coherency but not the six women he just spent half an hour talking to. “I’m the Executive Producer of the actual recording department.”

Kris smirks at him. “Fancy.”

“Try not to drool over me,” Chanyeol says, his mouth stretching in a smile. 

“I’ll do my best,” Kris says and Chanyeol feels something he hasn’t felt in a long time nudge at him somewhere around his stomach. It’s unfamiliar but pleasant and he’s not sure why it’s there. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” a new man says, walking up to them gracefully. “But we are beginning again and if you would please go take your seats where we left off, we would like to get started.”

Kris nods and Chanyeol finds himself doing the same, the two shooting a look at each other before separating and walking back to their seats. Key stands up at the front again, all smiles and well sculpted everything and says, “I hope you enjoyed the brief break. Anyway, we are going to get started again and pick up where we left off. Good luck!”

Chanyeol looks down at his blank piece of paper in front of him and sees how horribly blank it is. Unwanted, the smiling face of Suho floats into his mind and he frowns. Looking up, he is met with the image of a very well dressed and put together woman, her small hands folded in front of her delicately and finds himself wishing they were too large and warm and strong for him to hold and feel some sort of grounding. 

Inadvertently, his eyes flit down the table where he sees Kris speaking with a dainty looking woman who is laughing artificially. 

He frowns.

-


	3. Kris 2

Kris 2:

In the end, Kris had managed to scrawl down a few names of people, though when he thought back to it, he wasn’t entirely sure if he actually had wanted to meet these women again or if it was simply the recurring image of Luhan glowering at him that had made him put pen to paper and scrawl.

But three days later, after three completely unsuccessful and intensely irritating dates, Kris found himself once again staring into the faces of both Luhan and Lay, who were standing in his office and looking at him pointedly. 

“It didn’t work,” Kris says flatly, looking at them over steepled fingers. 

“You’re not even trying,” Lay says, still looking at him hard.

“They’re all obnoxious, stuck up, and completely self obsessed,” Kris says flatly, glaring at his best friend. 

“So they’re perfect for you, considering you love no one more than yourself,” Lay retorts, sneering slightly. 

“Okay, Lay, not helping,” Luhan interjects and looks at Kris imploringly. “Look, I’m sorry the first time didn’t work out great.” Kris snorts at him and Lay bites back a laugh. “ _But_ ,” Luhan continues loudly, trying to keep some sense in the room. “You can’t just blow this off after one try. I’m sure this week-“

Kris starts at this. “This week?” he interrupts, eyes dangerous as he looks at Luhan, who gives him a patronizing look back. 

“Yes, this week,” Luhan says. “You’re signed up for three sessions, that’s how it works.”

“Why did you not tell me this before?” Kris demands. “If you had, then there would have been no reason in Hell I would have agreed.”

“Which is precisely why we didn’t tell you,” Lay says, sounding slightly exasperated. “Who knows, maybe this week you’ll find someone you actually want to talk to and a miracle will have occurred.”

Kris has a brief flash in his mind of a smile that’s too wide before he pushes it aside and glowers. “Dragon’s out,” Lay says under his breath and Kris ignores him. “So I lose another Friday night to this shit?” he says, eyes fixed on Luhan. Luhan clasps his hands delicately in front of himself and nods. “Fine.” He waves his dismissal and turns back to his desk, trying to absorb himself with the reports and designs littering his desk, avoiding the long hand written report from Tao and ignores the persistent image of a too happy face with disproportioned ears that keeps trying to invade his brain.

-

On Friday night Taemin arrives outside of the Hilton at exactly 6:45, giving Kris just the optimal amount of time to arrive and not be heinously early before the night once more commences into a horrible roller coaster of dislike. He walks to the conference room and is greeted by a different smiling man, this one slightly less slim than Ryeowook but not less attractive.

“Welcome,” the new man says. “I see you’ve come back for seconds.”

“Apparently it’s addictive,” Kris says with a tight smile, trying not to look too pained and feeling like he’s failing miserably. 

The other man seems very adept at reading between Kris’s words because he gives him a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure you’ll have better luck tonight,” he says with a faint nod. “I’m Sungmin. If you need anything, I’ll be here to help you. Or, in the case that you just need a respite, I’m always open for a quick rescue talk.” He smiles and Kris finds himself liking this man much more than he expected.

“Thanks,” Kris says, and is a little less precise with his three shake handshake. Sungmin nods to him as Kris enters the conference room, his eyes sweeping the room briefly before they suddenly land on a familiar figure. Not even realizing he’s moving before he is, he finds himself suddenly standing in front of Park Chanyeol and wondering what the hell to say. 

“Hey, you’re here again,” Chanyeol says around a mouthful of gorgonzola. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked the Male Model didn’t score every single woman from last week.”

“Rude,” Kris says, though he finds himself smiling none the less. “And you’re here again? What, were people not impressed when you told them this gathering was significantly lacking in naked women.”

Chanyeol laughs and Kris’s eyes follow the lines of his face, finding it strangely more endearing than the last time he had seen it, when it’s resemblance had been of the train wreck variety. “Sadly no,” Chanyeol says. “Apparently that’s not the best pick up line.”

“Indeed,” Kris says and pops a grape into his mouth, chewing slowly. “Did you find anyone last week?” he asks because his brain suddenly won't work properly.

Chanyeol frowns slightly and his lips form a sort of strange pout. “I went out with a few, but they were mostly…” He trails off, eyes coming unfocused as he looks vaguely over Kris’s left shoulder.

“Disappointing,” Kris finishes for him and Chanyeol nods dazedly. “I know the feeling.”

“Seriously?” Chanyeol says, eyes focusing back on him as his fingers fidget on his water glass. Kris raises an eyebrow. “It’s just, I dunno, you seem suave.”

Kris finds his mouth turning up and what he remembers is called amusement flitting through his chest. “Suave?” he repeats and Chanyeol fidgets again.

“What, they don’t use ‘suave’ in the modeling business?” Chanyeol says and takes a large gulp of water, eyes suddenly roaming haphazardly. 

“We do, but it’s usually the designers who throw it around like popcorn,” Kris says and Chanyeol turns to him abruptly, eyes widened for a moment before he burst out laughing and Kris hates the feeling in his chest. 

“What?” Kris says, frowning slightly as Chanyeol’s eyes crinkle in their very unique manner.

“Popcorn,” Chanyeol says, calming his laughter slightly and gesturing to Kris. “I never thought I’d hear that simile coming out of a mouth like yours,” he says and grins too wide and Kris wants to fist his hands in… something. 

“I’m full of surprises,” Kris says instead of grabbing the nearest object and holding onto it brutally. 

“Aren’t we all,” Chanyeol says, and his smile is disconcertingly pleasant.

Then Key claps his hands and without a word, the two men separate and begin looking for their seats, Kris’s eyes flitting for a moment to Chanyeol as the other man has difficulty getting into his chair while his speed date looks on in shock and poorly masked disgust. He’s smiling as he turns to his date, who has a stern expression and fierce eyes.

The bell goes off and the woman leans over the table towards him, face set. “Look, I don’t want to be here and doubt you really do too so let’s just put each others names down, go out on a probably shitty date, and then our secretaries or superiors or whoever the fuck made us come here will get off our backs.”

Kris blinks at her and holds out his hand. “Kris,” he says as she takes it and shakes it firmly. “Nice to speed date you.”

“CL,” the woman says, unsmiling. “Let’s not make this too painful.” She writes down his name in decisive letters.

Kris looks down at his paper, blank and haunting and, scrawls without thinking ‘Chanyeol’ sideways across the paper. Because wouldn’t that be ironic.

-

After their session of speed dating is over and Kris feels like he would rather have the entire female sex exiled to the moon so he never has to see one again, he is greeted with the weary face of Chanyeol.

“Good times?” Chanyeol asks, voice tired.

Kris gives him a look. “All women,” he says, voice vacant of emotion, “need to be eliminated.”

“That would be unfortunate,” Chanyeol says, frowning so his mouth pouts slightly and Kris can’t help his eyes from gravitating to them. “Hey, it’s Friday night,” he says and then doesn’t continue, making Kris wonder if he may have just had a stroke.

Finally, when he sees Chanyeol isn’t going to finish is fragmented sentence, Kris says, “Yes, today is Friday.”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “I mean,” he frowns again. “It’s Friday night. Shouldn’t people be out, I dunno, doing something?”

Kris stares at him. “You do things on Friday nights?” he asks, enjoying the way his personal jibe makes Chanyeol’s lower lip pout. 

“You’re very proud of yourself, aren’t you,” Chanyeol says, still frowning. 

“I’m the CEO of the top male modeling agency in the country,” Kris says, smirking. “I’m gorgeous and live in a private penthouse. Why wouldn’t I be proud of myself?”

Chanyeol snorts and smirks at him. “Funny,” he says. “Do you lead a second life as a stand up comedian?”

“That would be my secretary,” Kris says easily and Chanyeol laughs. Kris is beginning to really enjoy that laugh. And he speaks before he means to, the words tumbling from his mouth before he can stop them. “Want to go grab a coffee or something?”

Chanyeol starts and looks up at him. “What?”

Kris feels uncomfortable, and its not something he’s very familiar with feeling. “Coffee,” he repeats. “You know, people drink it, sometimes together as a means for socialization.”

“What am I, an idiot?” Chanyeol says, eyebrow raised and Kris smirks. 

“Can I answer that?” he asks and Chanyeol snorts. “So, coffee?”

-

They end up going to some horribly commercial place with lots of uniform seats and generic coffee and fluorescent lighting. Chanyeol refuses to let Kris pay (“Since when do you get treated to coffee, CEO Model man?”) and Kris can’t help but keep the smile off his face. He wonders vaguely if this is what Luhan had in mind when he signed Kris up for speed dating.

“So,” Chanyeol says, hands cupping his vanilla latte carefully. “What do you usually do on Friday nights?”

Kris sits back into is chair and sighs, arms lying relaxed in his lap. “Have giant parties on my rooftop,” he says and grins when Chanyeol snorts into his coffee. “You?”

Chanyeol flicks his hair out of his eyes. “Oh, you know,” he says, cocking his head to the side. “I have a big gathering on my yacht and a few rock starts show up, make a mess, and at least one person drowns.”

“You lead a thrilling life,” Kris says, grinning into his Americano before taking a sip of the hot liquid. “If only mine could compare.”

“So,” Chanyeol says, setting his drink on the small table and giving Kris a calculating look. “What does a male modeling CEO do, exactly?”

Kris thinks for a second. “Do his very best to convince people he’s not flamingly gay despite being almost constantly surrounded by things that are societally labeled as homosexual stereotypes,” he says and Chanyeol laughs. Kris smiles again and feels like he could get used to this. Which, he realizes a second later, is a terrifying thought.

“I knew you were too pretty to be straight,” Chanyeol says between guffaws and Kris curses his roiling stomach into oblivion.

-

“You failed,” Kris tells Luhan over the phone.

“I don’t understand the question,” Luhan says from the other end, voice somewhat laden with sleep. “Why did I fail?”

Kris sighs, letting his far too expensive phone go slightly loose in his large hand. “Speed dating is a complete waste of time and effort.”

There’s a silence at the other end of the line as Kris waits for Luhan to respond. “Maybe you just suck at it?” Luhan says and Kris hangs up.

-

On Monday, Luhan greets him with a smirk planted on his face. Kris looks at him warily.

“What?” he asks his secretary, wondering if he really wants to know the answer. 

“Who is Chanyeol?” Luhan asks and Kris feels a now familiar jump in his ribcage he’s grown to accept rather than loathe. 

“What are you talking about?” Kris says, scowling.

“I’m talking about the man I just got off the phone with who seems to currently be in possession of one of your handkerchiefs,” Luhan says with a smirk that should not belong on his face. “This would have been easier if you had just been honest about your sexual preferences with me up front.”

Kris’s scowl intensifies as he looks at Luhan’s gloating face. “I am not interested in dating men,” he says firmly. 

Luhan rolls his eyes. “You run a male modeling agency.”

“I am not gay,” Kris repeats firmly. 

“He wants to give it back to you,” Luhan says, changing the topic swiftly. “Apparently you left it after coffee on Friday.”

“How magnanimous,” Kris drawls, turning and walking around his desk. “A true gentleman.”

“Ask him to dinner,” Luhan says and Kris glares with as much force as he can. 

“No.”

“Is he cute?”

“I- what?” Kris hates Luhan.

“I’m just curious,” Luhan shrugs. “You know I’m just as depressingly single as you and-“

“Shut up,” Kris grates out between clenched teeth. 

Luhan smirks. “His number is on top of the 21 fashion reports,” he says idly. “Oh, and Tao wants to talk to you about then designs for winter fashions. He wants to feature Kai.” He pauses. “Again.”

Kris sighs as he sits down. “Tell Tao I’ll meet with him in an hour.”

“It shall be done, your excellency,” Luhan says, bowing. 

“Thank you, Luhan,” Kris says, turning to his computer and turning the machine on.

-

Kris calls Chanyeol on Monday despite what he may tell Luhan and they meet for dinner on Tuesday. Kris has no idea what to do with himself and can’t stop thinking of how perplexing Chanyeol’s eye is when he laughs while waiting for Chanyeol he hardly notices the other man slipping up beside him at the bar and tapping him on the shoulder.

Kris turns to look at him and feels himself go numb. Chanyeol looks much better in just a white tee shirt and jacket than he does in a suit. He has on black slacks, sure, but the less formal looks does wonders for the other man. “Hi,” he says, for lack of better things to vocalize.

“Sup,” Chanyeol says and looks around the restaurant vaguely. “Nice place,” he comments and Kris catches the slight apprehension in his voice. 

“Well, I think so,” Kris says, looking around and lightly taking Chanyeol by the arm. If the other man doesn’t approve of this gesture, he doesn’t say it, instead letting Kris guide him to where their table is waiting. 

“Do you take all of your friends here for dinner?” Chanyeol asks as he sits down, his limbs settling in awkwardly at first before Chanyeol finally seems to gain control of them. “Or am I an exception?”

Kris’s mouth quirks on its own accord. “You’re an exception,” he tells Chanyeol and the other man grins. “Usually I force them to eat McDonnalds and laugh at their disgust upon eating chemically generated food.”

“McDonnalds is delicious,” Chanyeol says, flipping open a drinks menu. “I aspire to get heart disease before I’m 40.” He looks up at the drink in Kris’ hand. “What are you drinking?”

“Rusty nail,” Kris says absently, barely glancing at his drink.

“Whiskey?” Chanyeol inquires, eyebrow raised and Kris just nods. 

“Would you like one?” Kris asks and Chanyeol glances at the menu. “Or shall I just try to guess what kind of alcohol to get you and we can play the hot and cold game.”

“Clever and funny,” Chanyeol says, siting back slightly. “You really are a winner.” Kris huffs a laugh and Chanyeol grins. “What is good here?”

Kris looks at him for a moment. “The menu’s right there,” he says, looking at Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol gives him a look over the menu. “I don’t speak French and the year of Latin I took in high school barely prepared me for romance languages.”

“Of course,” Kris says, shaking his head. “Excuse me for presuming you’re educated.”

“Shame on you,” Chanyeol says but grins over his menu none the less. “But seriously, what the hell does this mean? What is a f-fiogliogio?”

Kris actually laughs. Actually finds happy sounds bursting out of his mouth as he reaches across the table to Chanyeol’s menu and pulls it slightly towards him. “Where are you looking?” Chanyeol pouts at him and points. “Pasta with mushrooms in cream sauce,” Kris says easily and Chanyeol throws his hands into the air.

“Oh, how could I have been so naïve?” Chanyeols says, limbs waving slightly as Kris smiles, feeling warmth spreading through his chest. He vaguely recalls his conversation with Luhan from Monday and internally concedes that maybe, just maybe Luhan was right. Not that he’d ever tell that to Luhan in person.

“Would you rather go elsewhere?” Kris asks Chanyeol and the other seems to consider for a moment.

“Are you paying and is the food good?” Chanyeol asks finally and Kris laughs again. 

“Both?” Kris replies and Chanyeol settles himself firmly in his chair. 

“Then you order whatever is good and I’ll just smile and look handsome,” Chanyeol says, grinning and Kris finds that his smile has grown on him. A lot.

“Look handsome?” he repeats, raising an eyebrow at Chanyeol. 

“So everyone else can feel inadequate,” Chanyeol says and they both laugh, Kris with something lodged in his chest that he’s beginning to accept as an attraction to Chanyeol. An attraction that he isn’t sure he can get rid of. 

Not that he wants to.

-

Dinner goes better than worse. Which is to say that Chanyeol is clearly inexperienced with fine French dining and had no idea what to do when they were serve ice cream between courses, promptly taking a huge bite and going painfully pale, clutching the table in panic as Kris tried to figure out what was wrong. He ended up spitting the frozen glob into his napkin and putting it surreptitiously on a passing waiters tray.

Kris had been simultaneously amused and horrified. 

After dinner, Chanyeol, hands stuck firmly in his pocket, breathes in the cool night air as Kris watches him from the corner of his eye. Chanyeol, despite his awkward limbs and somewhat sporadic face, is incredibly handsome. 

He’s tall, will never fit comfortable against Kris even if he wants him to, and Kris finds that, in spite of all of his previous thoughts of ideals and types, that that works for him. He doesn’t need someone to match him, he needs a compliment who is both comfortable and uncomfortable. He doesn’t want perfection. He has perfection in his models, in his work, in his job. He wants something that has flaws.

And nothing is more flawed than Chanyeol’s face when he is startled into hysterical laughter. 

They’re walking for a minute or two before Kris realizes he has no idea where they’re going. “Are you just wandering aimlessly or is there a purpose to your direction?” he asks Chanyeol and receives a smile in return.

“We’re going to RumbleMuffins,” is all the reply he gets before Chanyeol laughs at his confused scowl. “It’s my best friend's business. He runs a popular café.”

“I see,” Kris says, nodding slightly. 

“It’s actually super cool,” Chanyeol continues, eyes distant as they look ahead, smile gently resting on his lips. “He came up with the concept from when he and I grew up. We used to be really rambunctious and creative kids. He took that and turned it into a café.”

“So it’s original and not a chain, then,” Kris says, watching Chanyeol’s profile and outlining his nose against the night sky. 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Chanyeol says, turning and smiling at Kris.

They arrive and Kris realizes just how original RumbleMuffin is. “What kind of café is this exactly?” he asks, feeling slightly confused as he looks around at the vast number of pillows and blankets stacked around the room. There are a few people, mainly couples, nestled about the café in what looks like small tents constructed from other blankets and pillows. 

“It’s a fort café,” Chanyeol says happily, leaning against the café bar while a man Kris assumes is Chanyeol’s best friend observes Kris with a kind of perplexed apprehension. “Cool, huh?”

“Very original,” Kris says, looking around and beginning to vaguely feel the appeal of the establishment. It is an excellent combination of cute and play, with just enough hint of whimsical to make it romantic. “You’ve done well with the design,” he tells Chanyeol’s friend.

“Baekyun did pretty much everything himself,” Chanyeol says, beaming at his friend and Kris feels something angry shoot through his stomach. The barista, Baekhyun, turns to Chanyeol with a kind of wide-eyed look, his eyeliner only enhancing the expression before he turns back to Kris.

“Sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met before,” Baekhyun says, holding out a hand to Kris and smiling in a pleasant but slightly confused manner. 

“Kris,” Kris tells him, smiling easily as he shakes Baekhyun’s hand exactly three times. 

“Baekhyun,” Baekhyun says, eyes flitting over to Chanyeol. “And you know Chanyeol… how exactly?”

“We met at speed dating,” Chanyeol says, eyes scanning the coffee list. He misses the raised eyebrows Baekhyun gives him. “The usual, please, Baekhyunnie.”

Baekhyun snorts. “Do you ever get anything different?” he says under his breath before turning to Kris. “And what would you like?” 

“Just an Americano,” Kris says, looking between Chanyeol and Baekhyun and feeling uncharacteristically annoyed. 

Baekhyun nods in affirmation. “Are you two going to make a fort or just sit for a while?”

“Just sit,” Chanyeol says, smiling at Kris. “We don’t need to make a fort tonight.”

And Kris’s stomach lifts because Chanyeol’s phrasing somehow suggests that there will be another night that they will. And Kris finds he wants that.

-

Luhan is smirking again when Kris enters the office on Thursday.

“Why must you look at me like that?” Kris says, frowning.

“Because you did call Chanyeol,” Luhan says, still smirking as he begins handing Kris papers and files and work that he really wishes he didn’t have this morning. “And went to dinner. Which was clearly successful.”

“And you know this how?” Kris deadpans, looking up at his secretary under lowered brows. 

“Because he called asking if you were busy tonight.”

Kris groans and sits back in his chair. He knew he should have asked for Chanyeol’s number. It would have easily avoided horrible situations such as this. “What, are you now my personal life secretary instead of just my personal work secretary?”

Luhan scoffs. “Oh come on, when have I not been both.” Kris glowers at him, “I told him you’re free after six.”

Kris blanches. “I am _not_ free after six,” he says, voice on edge. “I have a very important conference. With _France_.”

“No, you don’t,” Luhan says, easily gathering up a few papers that Kris had finished with the previous day into neater piles before scooping them into his arms. “I rescheduled them for next week. They’re doing an expo tomorrow anyway so they need time to prepare and get their details in order.”

“I hate you,” Kris says, dropping his face into his hands.

Luhan smiles at him. “You love me.”

-

He meets Chanyeol at a small dinner café with nice lighting on Thursday night. Chanyeol is once again wearing the tee shirt jacket combo that Kris really likes and is this time wearing nicely tailored gray slacks. He looks incredibly good.

“You look nice,” Kris says, walking up to him and smiling. 

“I always look nice,” Chanyeol says, smirking as he greets Kris with a hand on his shoulder that lingers a moment too long and leaves Kris wanting to press his fingers over the area once Chanyeol’s hand drops, just to savor the warmth. 

“What’s for dinner?” Kris asks and Chanyeol grins. 

“What, you don’t speak Italian?” the other asks, voice falsely incredulous and Kris just sniffs at him. “Just pick something on the menu. Everything is good.”

“Are you paying?” Kris asks, remembering Chanyeol’s question from Tuesday and quirking his eyebrows. 

“Of course I’m paying,” Chanyeol says, rolling his eyes. “Unless you find me so irresistible you simply must unload all of your finances unto my perfect self.”  
Kris hides his expression in his water glass, not trusting his face. 

The food is exceptional. Kris gets some sort of seafood pasta while Chanyeol orders something that is basically God’s ravioli and the two fight for a few minutes over each other’s plates, trying to steal as much food as they can and grinning like idiots the whole while. 

After dinner, Kris grabs Chanyeol’s hand without thinking and pulls him along to a nearby park he knows is in the area. He’s been there multiple times, knowing that it is best enjoyed at night because they light up the whole place with incredibly well designed LED placement, making for an excellent atmosphere. He feels light as he walks, hand gently but definitely closed around Chanyeol’s, slowly through the gardens, Chanyeol next to him as the two banter. 

He never knew he loved bantering so much until he did so with Chanyeol, feeling his mouth twitch every time Chanyeol smiles, laughs, pouts, looks confused, or basically does anything with his face.

“You’re ears are really weird,” Kris comments after a brief lull in the conversation and Chanyeol turns to him, a curious frown gracing his features.

“At least I don’t have giant hands,” Chanyeol says and Kris’s eyes widen slightly. 

“Giant hands?” he repeats, bringing the one not clasped around Chanyeol’s up to his face. “How are they giant hands?”

Chanyeol snorts. “Dude, have you seen them? Everything about you is basically anatomically perfect except for those monsters. You’re like a St. Bernard puppy except with a dragon fierce face.”

“I have fantastic hands,” Kris says, trying to scowl before realizing with a shock of horror that he’s actually pouting. Chanyeol grins and pokes him in the face. 

“You’re in love with yourself,” he tells Kris and pulls them along by their linked hands deeper into the garden. “How did you find this place, by the way?” he asks, turning to Kris with his head slightly tilted. “It’s really nice.”

Kris shrugs, wanting to and resisting with effort rubbing his thumb over the skin on the back of Chanyeol’s hand. “I wander when I’m bored.” Chanyeol hums. 

“I like it here,” Chanyeol says, his usually loud and low voice slightly subdued and he comes to a halt before the pond in the center of the garden. The pond isn’t huge but it’s large enough to add enough mystery to the garden. There is a lightly flowing fountain at the opposite end and a few lily pads around the edges, illuminated by soft multicolored lights banking the shores. “It’s really calm.” He turns to Kris and the taller man can feel his breath catch. Something about how the light around them hitting Chanyeol’s face makes it glow gently and the soft smile on his mouth turns what can so easily be the most foolish face in the world into perfection.

“Beautiful,” Kris says and swallows with severe difficulty.

Chanyeol’s eyes shift and he blinks and Kris’s eyes drop to his lips and then back up. “Yeah,” Chanyeol says, low voice weaving through Kris’s ears like a song. “Beautiful.”

And before he can stop himself, Kris is pulling Chanyeol forward by their linked hands, his other coming up to gently cup Chanyeol's jaw and he’s pressing his lips to the other’s, his eyes falling closed as a small sigh escapes his lips. At first he feels Chanyeol stiffen in his grip and then go completely lax, but it barely registers over the feeling of perfection and complete that is Chanyeol against him, hand squeezing slightly as lips, soft and perfect, press just barely against his and his hair tangles in Kris’s fingers as the taller tilts Chanyeol’s head just slightly. 

And then Chanyeol’s pushing back, responding to the kiss and Kris can’t even begin to identify the feeling exploding inside his chest as he drops Chanyeol’s hand and wraps his arm around the other, pulling them closer, deeper, more insistently together. 

Chanyeol’s mouth is hot, and defiant against his and not submissive and too small like every woman he’s ever had contact with. Through the fabric of his jacket, Kris can feel strong muscles under Chanyeol’s skin and he just wants… everything. 

He slips a hand lower, farther down Chanyeol’s waist to the line where his jacket covers his pants line and dives under the folds of the expensive fabric, his hand wrapping around the small of Chanyeol’s back, dragging the other to him. His fingers search for purchase at the waist line of Chanyeol’s slacks, finally find it, slipping beneath and-

Kris is falling backwards when there’s a sudden unexpected shove straight to the center of his chest and he lands with a colossal splash into the pond, eyes wide and mouth filling quickly with pond water. He quickly sits up, spluttering and shaking water out of his eyes to look up at Chanyeol who looks so shocked it hurts. 

Chanyeol has a hand to his mouth, fingers lingering on his lips as he looks, wide eyed at Kris, his other hand held up in front of him, as if it never moved after pushing Kris away. He looks horrifically confused and hurt and there’s still a faint blush on his cheeks and his lips are red and swollen and Kris suddenly realizes what just happened. 

“Chanyeol-“ Kris says, struggling to get up but as soon as a sound leaves his lips, Chanyeol’s suddenly snapped from whatever reality he was in, turns, and sprints away, stumbling slightly over the gravel path. 

And Kris, closing his eyes and wincing, feels his arms give way and he falls backwards into the pond once more.

-


	4. Chanyeol 2

Chanyeol 2:

“What do you mean it didn’t work out?” Baekhyun says, frowning at Chanyeol from across the coffee bar.

Chanyeol shuffles his feet awkwardly, trying not to look at Baekhyun. “I mean that I tried to date some of them and it just, well…” He trails off and hopes that he doesn’t have to elaborate how disastrous his dates had been. 

“It just what, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun says, hands on his hips like a petulant parent. “What, you spat spaghetti at them? Used your nose as a pressure gun and shot peas from your nose? Showed them how good you are at making duck sounds with your hands.”

“Hey,” Chanyeol says, frowning. “Those are legitimate talents.” 

“So, apparently, is growing extremely intricate mustaches,” Baekhyun says with a look. “But you don’t see normal people walking around with windmills on their faces do you?”

Baekhyun has a point but Chanyeol refuses to admit it. He’d rather just look gloomily into his coffee and sigh to himself for an undetermined period of time. His dates had been, well, horrible. Not only were the few women who had apparently written down his name all horribly self obsessed, but when they finally asked him why he was so stiff and uncomfortable and he told them the reality that he hadn’t been on a date in two years, they either turned horribly sympathetic or looked at him like he was an alien. 

One of them had, when wanting more information as to why he was so depressingly single, managed to get him to open up and he had wound up practically crying on her when touching so poignantly on the topic of his ex. She had looked horribly concerned when he had fled the restaurant in complete humiliation. 

“You cried on her?!” Kyungsoo had practically yelled at him over the phone as Chanyeol had called him in a panic, realizing he had left his keys and wallet on the table only moments after sprinting from the restaurant and his date. 

“I’m sensitive!” Chanyeol had yelled in desperation at his phone. 

Kyungsoo had laughed. “You’re a goddamn tractor!” he had yelled. “Go get your shit and apologize. Now! Then get your ass over here. I’m feeding you ice cream and positive enforcement.” And he had disconnected abruptly. 

Two days later landed him on Friday and currently sitting in Baekhyun’s café and staring at his coffee. Suho had actually frowned at him after hearing about his significant lack of progress and told him he had two more chances before he would be surveying the new interns every day for the rest of the year as store manager downtown. Chanyeol had read the seriousness very clearly in Suho’s voice. 

“So, are you going again tonight?” Baekhyun asks, leaning against the counter and watching Chanyeol closely. 

Chanyeol looks into his vanilla latte and frowns slightly, thinking of too big hands and all of the failures of this week. “Do I have a choice?” 

At 6:45 he’s standing inside the Hilton conference room, feeling too hot in his suit and munching cheese that he’s sure he doesn’t look attractive eating. He’s looking around but doesn’t recognize anyone from last week except for Key and Ryeowook. There’s a new person from Super Shiny Speed Dating that, when he’s not smiling at the speed daters or his superiors, looks as if he’d rather be washing cows than here. Chanyeol feels like he understands. Then he looks towards the door and sees a familiar shock of perfectly styled hair and feels a smile spread across his face completely unintentionally. 

“Hey, you’re here again,” Chanyeol says, remembering too late he’s just shoved a huge piece of cheese between his teeth. He grins at Kris as the other just looks at him. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked the Male Model didn’t score every single woman from last week.” He doesn’t know why but somehow the comment leaves a bitter feeling in his mouth. Maybe he can blame it on the cheese. 

Kris’s mouth twitches into a smile. “Rude,” he says, and Chanyeol feels stupidly pleased with himself. “And you’re here again? What, were people not impressed when you told them this gathering was significantly lacking in naked women?”

Chanyeol laughs at the comment, remembering the previous week’s conversations and feeling slightly more self conscious than he ever has. “Sadly, no,” he says, looking back at Kris and feeling oddly relieved to find him smiling. “Apparently that’s not the best pick up line.”

“Indeed,” Kris says as he uses one of those huge hands to put a grape between his lips. Chanyeol has a brief second where he wonders if he should start reciting all the horrible pick up lines he knows, and then realizes the thought process he’s just had and hates things. “Did you find anyone last week?” Kris asks, eyebrows raised. 

Chanyeol frowns, because that’s a question he isn’t sure he wants to really answer. He does anyway. “I went out with a few but they were mostly…” _'Horrible beyond reason'_ his mind supplies for him but he choses to not voice that part. He’d rather not tell Kris the escapades of his failures and instead lets his gaze wander. 

“Disappointing,” Kris supplies for him and Chanyeol nods, finding the word perfectly fitting for his lack of explanation. “I know the feeling.”

Chanyeol’s attention is snapped back to Kris as he looks at the slightly taller man. “Seriously?” he says, fingers fidgeting around his water. Because it’s a little hard to believe that Kris had difficulty on his dates. He’s a goddamn male model CEO and the most interesting person Chanyeol has found here yet. Kris raises an eyebrow at him and his fidgeting worsens. “I just, I dunno, you seem suave.”

Who the fuck says suave?

Kris is grinning at him in amusement and Chanyeol is praying that his face hasn’t changed colors. “Suave?” he repeats and Chanyeol has to admit, it sounds extremely stupid. 

“What, they don’t use ‘suave’ in the modeling business?” Chanyeol says and takes an unnecessarily large gulp of water to get himself to shut up, looking around frantically for anything else to talk about. 

“We do, but it’s usually the designers who throw it around like popcorn,” Kris says and Chanyeol is extremely glad he’s swallowed because he’s pretty sure he would have snorted water out his nose from the laughter that suddenly is wracking his lungs. “What?” Kris says and Chanyeol attempts to control himself. 

“Popcorn,” Chanyeol says, waving his hand and sniffing slightly. “I never thought I’d hear that simile coming out of a mouth like yours,” and grins because he has to do something to distract from that horrible sounding sentence.

“I’m full of surprises,” Kris says and Chanyeol can’t stop looking at his face and his not quite smile.

“Aren’t we all,” Chanyeol says without thinking and suddenly the conversation feels comfortable and normal and he is just content to stand and talk with Kris and doesn't need speed dating at all. 

Then Key claps his hands and Chanyeol’s moment is shattered and he jerks, separating from Kris with a quick glance before finding his chair and supposed date for the next five minutes. “Hi,” he says, trying to sit down and somehow failing, frowning as his arms and legs refuse to cooperate. Finally seated, he looks up at the woman and smiles. “Sorry, I’m usually more coordinated that this,” he tells her somewhat repulsed face.

“I highly doubt that,” she says and Chanyeol feels his face fall slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the woman opposite Kris suddenly lean across the table intently and has a flare of something he doesn’t quite recognize race up his stomach into his chest. The woman opposite him leans back in her chair and huffs. “It’s going to be a long night,” she says, staring at Chanyeol. And Chanyeol couldn’t agree with her more. 

Barely even realizing it, he’s looked down at his paper and, on random impulse, scrawled in haphazard letters on the side of the page ‘Kris.’

-

“Let me get this straight,” Baekhyun says, sighing as he wipes his hands on his apron, scowling at his coffee bean assortment. “You go to speed dating on Friday, meet no women, finish hating yourself and life in general, then go out for coffee with a guy and now you have his handkerchief?”

Chanyeol just stares at him from the counter, where his chin is resting on his folded arms. “You make me sound like I’m straight out of _Gone With the Wind_.”

Baekhyun snorts. “You may as well be,” he says. “And since when do you go out for coffee with people that aren’t me or Kyungsoo?”

“I dunno,” Chanyeol says, scowling at the fabric held between his fingers. “It was a horrible night and he’s a pretty cool guy.” He looks at Baekhyun, not liking the expression on his friends face. “Oh, for goodness sake, it was just coffee.”

“After speed dating,” Baekhyun points out, poking Chanyeol in the side of the face. 

“He’s a man,” Chanyeol says with emphasis on ‘man’ because clearly Baekhyun is missing this fact. 

“And your point is?” Baekhyun says, eyes unimpressed.

“He’s a straight man,” Chanyeol says, making sure to illustrate his point with entirely unnecessary hand gestures. “And so am I. Besides, you get coffee with me all the time.”

Baekhyun sighs in exasperation. “I’m your best friend,” Baekhyun says. “You just met this guy. Besides, how do you know he’s straight? Did he come flat out and say ‘Hi, my name is Kris and I like vagina’.”

Chanyeol frowns at Baekhyun. “No one would say that,” he says, frowning at his friend before his eyes shift back to the handkerchief in his hands. It’s incredibly soft and just perfectly off white. He doesn't even remember why Kris had taken it out, just that he had and that it had lain innocently and forgotten on the table after Kris had said goodbye and vanished into the night. 

Baekhyun watches Chanyeol carefully for a moment. “Do you have his number?” Baekhyun asks, his tone even and seemingly innocent. 

Chanyeol gives him a sideways look. “Why would I have his number?”

Baekhyun’s eyes flit downwards. “You have his handkerchief,” he points out and Chanyeol frowns. “Call him.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have his number.” 

Baekhyun smacks him over the head and goes to get the phonebook. A few minutes later, he’s shoving it under Chanyeol’s nose, the words 'EXO M' circled along with a list of telephone numbers. “Call him,” Baekyhyun repeats. 

Chanyeol frowns. “It’s Sunday.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and rips out the phone book page. “Call him tomorrow morning then.” Chanyeol accepts the paper with a frown and spends the next twenty minutes looking back and forth between the paper and the handkerchief before Baekyun throws some pillows and blankets at him and tells him to go make a fort to sprawl in.

-

“What do you mean you don’t have any dates this week?” Suho says, looking exhausted as his eyes fix on Chanyeol who stands awkwardly in front of him. Chanyeol says nothing, which is extremely disconcerting for him. Kyungsoo is looking concerned from the side where he is clutching a clipboard.

“Chanyeol,” Suho says, putting a hand over his face. “I am not doing this to punish you. I am doing this because I am tired of watching you put on that ‘Happy Virus’ mask only to drop it the instant you think someone isn’t looking. I miss the old you, the actual Happy Virus Chanyeol I started this company with.”

Chanyeol sighs, shoulders sagging. “I know,” he says, and he does.

“You have one more week,” Suho says and Chanyeol nods, turning from his CEO and friend and leaving the office. Kyungsoo follows him and frowns when Chanyeol makes a direct line for the secretary’s desk. 

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asks, watching as Chanyeol picks up the phone and punches in a number from a crumpled looking paper. 

“Making a phone call,” Chanyeol says, stating the obvious rather than providing details. “Yes, hello, EXO M Modeling Agencies?” he says in the receiver. 

A voice comes through the other end that sounds pleasant. “Yes, how many I help you?”

Chanyeol smiles unnecessarily. “Uh, is there any way I can talk to Kris Wu?” Kyungsoo gives him an extremely perplexed look from beside him. 

There is a pause on the opposite end of the line. “Um, well,” the voice says and Chanyeol is pretty sure the person on the other end is new. “I can connect you to his secretary.”

“That works,” Chanyeol says, smiling, again, unnecessarily. “Thanks.” He waits for a moment as the call is connected through, just grinning at Kyungsoo’s incessant hissing demanding what he’s doing. 

The line clicks and another voice comes on the phone. “Hello, offices of Kris Wu, CEO of EXO M. Luhan speaking, how may I assist you?”

“Hello, Luhan,” Chanyeol says politely. “This is Chanyeol from Planet Records.”

There is a small pause. “Um, yes, how many I help you?” Luhan asks.

Chanyeol feels a laugh bubble before he can stop it. “Well, actually, I seem to have something of Mr. Wu’s actually,” he says and feels horribly awkward.

There is a much longer pause. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry, you see, I met him at a Super Shiny Speed Dating session last week and during a conversation he seems to have forgotten his handkerchief. I thought he might want it back.” Chanyeol can tell his face is burning. If not from the heat on his cheeks then from the definite shift in expressions on Kyungsoo’s face, ranging from confusion to shock to amusement to devious.

There is a very long pause. “I’m sorry, this may sound rude, but you are, in fact, a man,” Luhan says and Chanyeol is just slightly stunned. 

“Um, yes,” he says into the phone, confused as to how someone could ever confuse his voice as female. “I’m a man.”

“Okay, please excuse me,” Luhan says with a light attractive laugh. “It’s just that I would not expect someone that Kris meets at speed dating to be a man. Let alone that person to have his handkerchief.” Chanyeol feels his stomach clench uncomfortably. “So, should I let you know when Kris is available this week or would you like for him to call you back, Chanyeol?” 

Chanyeol can hear the smirk on Luhan’s voice and feels horribly embarrassed. “Look, he just forgot his handkerchief and I’m just trying to return it to him. I- just- you know what, have him call me or something.”

He can hear Luhan biting back laughter as he speaks. “Yes, I think that might works best. What is your number?”

Chanyeol quickly recites his number, hoping to not have to repeat it a billion times to the clearly gloating secretary. Then hangs up the phone with unnecessary force and turns to Kyungsoo who is gloating so hard Chanyeol is surprised his face doesn't hurt.

“What?” Chanyeol demands, feeling short tempered.

“ _I don’t have any dates this week_ my ass,” Kyungsoo says and Chanyeol flips him off, trudging off towards his office and flopping down at his desk behind computers and sound boards and sheets of music scattered everywhere. He sighs and drags a hand over his face, resigning himself to a day of work he’d rather avoid, trying to shake the image of sharp eyes and large hands from his mind as the minutes tick by. 

The sudden piercing ringtone of his phone almost shocks Chanyeol off of his chair and, holding his chest slightly, he answers his phone. 

“Hello?”

A voice clears at the other end. “Chanyeol?”

He should not have his stomach do that. “Yeah. Is this Kris?”

“Who else would it be?” the other says and Chanyeol smiles in spite of himself. 

“I have lots of people who call me,” he says, leaning back in his chair. “You could have been anyone. My boss, my parents, the Queen of France. I can keep going if you like.”

“Luhan tells me you called, something about a handkerchief,” Kris says and Chanyeol swallows. 

“Yeah,” he says, wondering why his throat feels tight. “I think you left it at the café when you left last Friday. I figured you might want it back. It seems expensive.”

“It is expensive,” Kris drawls on the phone. 

“So, what, should I have someone run it over to you or give it to you next Friday or-“ Chanyeol’s rambling and not sure why.

“How about dinner?” Kris cuts him off and Chanyeol stutters slightly.

“What?”

“Dinner. Why don’t we meet tomorrow for dinner?” Kris says, voice unreadable over the line. 

“Um,” Chanyeol says because he has no idea how to answer that, Baekhyun’s voice floating through his mind. 

“You can give me the handkerchief and I can say thank you over fancy food,” Kris says, and Chanyeol can hear a slight hesitation in his voice.

Chanyeol doesn't know what to think. His stomach is doing something he remembers it doing once but he’s forgotten and he’s confused, not knowing whether to say yes or no. He keeps getting flashes of large hands then the thought _‘He’s a man’_ forces itself in large letter across his mind. 

“Tomorrow?” he says instead, trying to stall giving a definite decision. 

“Yeah, how is seven for you?” 

Chanyeol swallows. “Sure,” he says and isn’t quite sure why he feels so nervous. 

“Excellent,” Kris says. “Lets meet at the _Fleur de Leis_. It’s downtown near the entertainment district.”

Chanyeol hums and, with a few more unnecessary words, he hangs up, not entirely sure why he feels so confused and sick.

-

Tuesday night ends up being much more pleasant and comfortable than Chanyeol could have imagined. Despite the fact that he has no idea what he’s actually eating at dinner, everything is delicious and talking with Kris is almost too comfortable. He find himself watching Kris’s face and how it changes expression subtly and how he only smiles every now and then, the whole action changing his face.

He notices how his too large hands move gracefully despite their size and can’t quite understand why he likes them so much. Somehow, even after the disaster that was the palette cleansing course in which he spit ice cream into a napkin, Chanyeol enjoys himself more than he had on any of the dates he had last week. 

Then Chanyeol starts and remembers that this is not a date and that he’s out to dinner with another man and that just leaves him feeling slightly queasy. 

With dinner done, Chanyeol finds his feet carrying on the familiar walk to Baekhyun’s café and chooses not to fight it. Besides, he feels like it would be appropriate for himself and Kris to go to a café and have coffee. They did it last Friday, why not tonight?

Baekhyun looks at them in poorly disguised shock as Chanyeol walks in, Kris just a step behind him. His black lined eyes keep flitting between Chanyeol and Kris and Chanyeol realizes it may not have been too intelligent bringing Kris here after all before slapping on a smile and pushing the thought to the back of his mind. 

Chanyeol watches as Kris and Baekhyun introduce themselves to each other and smiles unintentionally. 

“And you know Chanyeol… how exactly?” Baekhyun says, eyes drifting over to Chanyeol as he addresses Kris.

“We met at speed dating,” Chanyeol says, occupying himself by looking at the coffee list, ignoring the look he’s sure Baekhyun is giving him and the implications behind it. “The usual please, Baekhyunnie.”

Baekhyun snorts at him, already having started preparing for the order. “Do you ever get anything different?” Chanyeol hears him mutter before he turns to Kris. “And what would you like?”

“Just an Americano,” Kris says and Chanyeol notes that he got the same thing last Friday. 

Baekhyun nods, a small smile gracing his lips before he turns to look between the two men. “Are you going to make a fort or just sit for a while?”

“Just sit,” Chanyeol says, turning and smiling at Kris and meeting the other’s eyes. They’re intense, he notes, and almost stumbles on the next words out of his mouth. “We don’t need to make a fort tonight.” 

An hour later, after Kris has left and Chanyeol is just sitting with Baekhyun as the other closes up the shop. 

“So, that’s Kris, CEO of EXO M, and owner of really nice handkerchiefs,” Baekhyun says absently but smirking enough for Chanyeol to know it’s not an innocent comment. 

“Yes, that’s Kris,” Chanyeol says, watching his best friend carefully from inside one of the many forts in the café. 

“He seems nice,” Baekhyun comments, emerging from one of the forts he’s been taking down and smiling slyly at Chanyeol. 

“He is nice,” Chanyeol says, still watching Baekhyun suspiciously.

“Is he now?” Baekhyun says and raises his eyebrows unnecessarily high, pausing as he walks towards the usual pile of blankets and pillows. 

“Oh, for the love of-“ Chanyeol says, throwing a pillow at Baekhyun’s legs. “What?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun says, completely unhelpful. “It’s just nice to see you happy.”

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol says, frowning. “But please stop speaking in useless sentences and tell me what you’re really saying. You know I don’t do well with metaphors and subtlety.”

Baekhyun puts down his armful of pillows and blankets and walks back over to Chanyeol, crawling into the fort with him and propping himself on his elbows. “You like him.”

Chanyeol frowns. “Would I hang out with him if I didn’t?” he asks, looking at Baekhyun and questioning his sanity. 

Baekhyun just gives him a patient look. “No, I mean, you _like_ him. As in this is a little bit more for you than just two guys hanging out.”

Chanyeol just stares at Baekhyun for a moment. “You’ve been snorting coffee beans,” he says and Baekhyun laughs. “No, I’m serious. What the- I’m not- I like _women_ ,” he finishes feeling less confident in that last statement than he should.

“I’m not saying you don't,” Baekhyun says, nodding to him and poking him in the cheek so his eye scrunches up. “I’m just saying you also like him.”

“Something is wrong with your brain,” Chanyeol says, swatting away his hand. 

Baekhyun just laughs again. “No more than there is with yours. Remember we’re friends.” Chanyeol grins at him and Baekhyun looks at him with affection only years of friendship can warrant. “Do you like spending time with Kris?” he asks and Chanyeol feels that strange thing again, fluttering about his diaphragm.

He frowns. “Yeah, he’s a great guy. You met him.”

Baekhyun nods and watches Chanyeol closely. “How do you feel right now?” he asks and Chanyeol looks up at him, eyes slightly wide. 

“What?” 

Baekhyun puts a hand on his arm. “How do you feel? Like, your body.”

Chanyeol pauses and thinks for a moment. “Relaxed,” he says, looking at Baekhyun. “I always feel relaxed when I’m with you. I feel like I can be me and you wont judge me and I feel home.”

Baekhyun nods. “And how did you feel during dinner tonight?”

Chanyeol is quiet for longer now, thinking back on dinner with Kris tonight and frowning slightly. “I was comfortable,” he says, looking off at nothing. “It was like being comfortable and warm and relaxed all while also feeling really-“ he breaks off and frowns. “Nervous. But not in a bad way. More like an ‘I’m not sure what’s just around the corner’ kind of way. If that makes sense.”

Baekhyun nods and picks up one of Chanyeol’s hands, playing with the fingers.

Chanyeol looks down at his hand as Baekhyun’s fingers move over his own. 

“Kris has really big hands,” Chanyeol says without thinking.

-

Chanyeol doesn't really want to know why he called Kris’s office on Thursday. He knows a part of him knows but doesn’t want to think about that. Instead he tells Suho that he’s going out and to stop smiling dangerously at him. Luhan sounds horribly smug over the phone as he arranges the date, telling Chanyeol that he’ll tell Kris and not to worry. Chanyeol feels slightly awkward as he hangs up the phone.

Chanyeol had arrived a few minutes early, getting a table at one of his favorite restaurants and sat feeling slightly anxious, waiting for Kris as Baekhyun’s conversation from Tuesday rolled around his mind like silly-putty. He spots Kris and stands up, a smile spreading over his face involuntarily at the other’s arrival. 

“You look nice,” Kris says and Chanyeol feels his smile widen. 

“I always look nice,” Chanyeol replies, laying a hand on the other’s shoulder and feeling slightly surprised at how firm it is. He lets it drop slightly reluctantly. 

“What’s for dinner?” Kris asks and Chanyeol just grins again, the increasingly familiar sensation of comfort settling in his chest easily. 

“What, you don’t speak Italian?” Chanyeol says, faking indignation as Kris sniffs, his mouth quirking slightly. He smiles. “Just pick something on the menu. Everything is good.”

“Are you paying?” Kris asks, leaning back in his chair slightly as he looks over the menu with raised eyebrows. 

“Of course I’m paying,” Chanyeol says, rolling his eyes and looking at the tall man across from him. “Unless you find me so irresistible you simply must unload all of your finances unto my perfect self.”

Kris takes a long drink of water and points to the menu. “Whatever that is,” he says, eyes steady as they look at Chanyeol. 

“Vongola,” Chanyeol reads and nods. “Yeah, it’s excellent here. And we’ll get wine because we’re fancy.” Kris snorts at him. 

Dinner is delicious and Chanyeol tries not to enjoy himself too much when they start stealing food from each other’s plates. He’s finally identifying the feeling that he’s been so confused about. He’s happy. He’s actually feeling happy, that ridiculous bubbling feeling in his chest that has him smiling for no reason. And whenever he looks at Kris, it just is there, filling him and he can’t help but smile and feel warm. 

Once dinner is finished and Chanyeol has paid the bill, only haggling briefly with Kris about the tab before he points out that dinner on Tuesday far surpassed this in costs and to shut up if he knew what was good for him, they make to leave and Kris’s hand closes over his own and that feeling in his chest increases just a little more. 

Kris pulls him outside and down the street, clearly knowing where they are going while Chanyeol is nonplussed. “Where are we going?” Chanyeol asks and Kris smiles at him.

“You’ll see,” Kris says and Chanyeol feels his throat clench. 

Kris leads him, pace slowing considerably, into a park garden area. The whole area is beautifully laid out, winding gravel paths and walk ways, leading and mixing between plants and greens, softly illuminated by strategically placed garden lights. It feels like something from a dream and Chanyeol feels himself smiling in contentment. 

They talk about nothing, going back and forth with witty comments about this and that and Chanyeol can’t stop smiling, loving the feeling that keeps expanding in his chest. 

After a brief silence, Kris says “Your ears are really weird,” and Chanyeol turns to look at him, eyes slightly wide and frowning slightly. 

He pauses for a moment, feeling the heavy but pleasant weight of Kris’ too large hand over his own. “At least I don’t have giant hands,” Chanyeol says in retaliation and internally cheers when Kris’ eyes widen slightly.

“Giant hands?” Kris says, bringing the hand not around Chanyeol’s up between them and looking at it. “How are they giant hands?”

Chanyeol wants to take the other hand and detail it with his fingers, showing Kris exactly how large it is. He snorts instead. “Dude, have you seen them? Everything about you is basically anatomically perfect except for those monsters. You’re like a St. Bernard puppy except with a dragon fierce face.”

Kris actually pouts and Chanyeol can’t stop staring. “I have fantastic hands,” he says, and Chanyeol can’t stop himself from grinning and poking him gently in the side of the face. 

“You’re in love with yourself,” Chanyeol says, realizing too late there is definite affection in his voice before pulling Kris gently by the hand, getting them to walk again. He looks around them, eyes taking in everything around them and how gorgeous it is. “How did you find this place, by the way?” he asks, turning to look at Kris. “It’s really nice.”

Kris shrugs, looking at him sideways. “I wander when I’m bored,” he says simply and Chanyeol hums in understanding.

“I like it here,” Chanyeol admits, his voice softer as it releases, feeling the comfort of the area wrapping around him warmly. Kris’s hand feels comforting around his own and he wants to keep it there forever, wrapped in those too long fingers that are so secure and pleasant around his own. He looks around, taking in the serene pond they’ve stopped next to. It’s like a dream. “It’s really calm,” he says and turns to Kris, finding the other staring at him steadily and his stomach clenches unnaturally, as if warning him of something. 

“Beautiful,” Kris says and is voice is slightly rough. Chanyeol watches him swallow, the action making his throat work and Chanyeol stares at it without meaning to. 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, and that feeling inside increases, like he’s on the edge of a brilliant discovery, finding the key to a song he knows is just beyond his reach if he could only find the correct line. “Beautiful.”

And suddenly Kris’s hand around his own pulls him forward, the other coming up to his face and cradling his jaw in the most gentle yet stabile hold Chanyeol can imagine followed by the soft press of lips. Chanyeol freezes instantly before that teetering feeling jolts and everything stops and his body goes limp, just hanging there as Kris’s mouth presses against his in a frozen moment of time as Chanyeol’s eyes slowly close. 

Just as his eyes slide shut, that feeling in his chest explodes and suddenly Chanyeol’s pushing back, kissing Kris back and he doesn’t know what he’s doing but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that that happiness, that bubbling and golden feeling in his chest is suddenly everywhere and every inch of him that Kris’s hands touch tingles pleasantly and he just feels inexplicably happy and alive and good. 

Dimly, Chanyeol feels amid the euphoria of emotions and sensations, Kris’s hand leave his own and he reaches forward and fists both of his own hands in Kris’s lapels, inhaling sharply as Kris’s large hand ghosts down his side and into his jacket to wrap around his waist, pulling him closer, deeper, safer. 

It’s perfect, it’s beautiful, like this garden, like this evening, like the stars and Chanyeol feels so dizzy it almost hurts. 

Chanyeol never wants to see small hands again. 

And then that hand moves, shudders just past his waist and pants line and something screams to a stop inside Chanyeol as he registers just exactly what’s happening and, before he’s even aware of it, his arms have moved and Kris is gone. 

Chanyeol’s eyes are wide, staring as Kris falls in slow motion backwards, propelled from the force of Chanyeol’s own hands into the pond where he lands, eyes wide and surprised and Chanyeol’s hand suddenly flies to his mouth, still tingling and hot.

 _‘What just happened?!’_ is on repeat screaming through Chanyeol’s mind and he can’t do anything. He just stares as Kris lands, water swallowing him in an exaggerated splash before time suddenly speeds back to normal and sound returns. 

Kris sits up and shakes his head, coughing slightly. 

Chanyeol can’t move. 

Can’t feel anything but shock and that strange happiness suddenly fighting with shock and confusion.

Then Kris moves, just slightly, his hand jerking up as Chanyeol’s name slips past his lips and something snaps inside Chanyeol. He turns, feeling like a startled deer, and runs, tripping over himself and feeling a wild panic he never knew existed flood him as he bolts off into the night, running like he hasn’t run since high school track team. Running from everything. The garden, Kris, this evening, his emotions, and that feeling which crawls up his skin. 

He runs all the way to Baekhyun’s apartment, practically throwing himself against the door before his friend opens it, wide eyed and concerned. Baekhyun barely gets the words “Chanyeol, what?-“ out of his mouth before the taller collapses to the floor, feeling dry sobs crack from his mouth and chest and closing his eyes in defeat to whatever is clawing inside his chest.

-


	5. Kris 3

Kris 3:

It seems to be an unspoken rule now at EXO M that no one, under pain of death or violent sacking, is supposed to approach the CEO of the company unless their names are Luhan, Lay or Tao. Everyone else who even so much as looked at the ‘Dragon’ as they affectionately named him, had either been brought to tears or been fired on the spot.

The week has been labeled ‘Dragon Week’ and no one dares to breathe too loudly for fear of being noticed. Apparently he had come in on Monday and got into a huge argument with Luhan and possibly destroyed a few things in his office. The new furniture that had been delivered the following afternoon had been proof enough of this. Luhan had also been put into one of the foulest moods the company had ever seen and no amount of persuasion from Xiumin could get him to divulge what had occurred in the CEO’s office.

Or what the cause was. 

The CEO was suddenly both the biggest mystery and the biggest gossip of the company and everyone wanted details that no one could get.

Kris had spent the week being the most productive that he had ever been in his five years of running EXO M. He barely left his office, doing dozens of video conference calls on important matters and going through double the amount of paperwork than usual, which was saying something. He came into the office early, before five in the morning, and left late, often well after midnight. He hardly slept and glared at anyone who tried to make him eat more than the required amount to keep him alive. 

In short, Kris was throwing himself into work, distracting himself and occupying as much of his mind as he possibly could in order to not think about the previous two weeks and last Thursday. He hadn’t gone to speed dating on Friday and had basically spent the whole day pacing his office trying to figure out what had gone so terribly wrong. 

That weekend Lay and Luhan had visited him at home and demanded to know what was wrong and, in very clipped tones, Kris had informed them about the weeks events. Luhan’s face had gone from gloating delight at the beginning of the recounting to outright horror and ending in fury by the end.

The smaller man hadn’t said anything, instead just standing up and leaving Kris’s house abruptly. Which Kris did not appreciate in the least.

Then there was the argument on Monday, which had not ended well at all. 

Today is Friday and it’s been over a week and Kris has refused any phone calls that are not business related and anyone who doesn’t come with something he deems as ‘important’ and is fighting a massive migraine when Luhan buzzes in over the intercom. 

“What?” Kris snaps, his temper nearly shot and head pounding. 

“Tao wishes to see you,” Luhan says, voice curt and professional.

Kris scowls at the machine on his desk. “Tell him I don’t need his drama,” Kris says.

“Open this door, you overgrown child,” Tao’s voice crackles over the intercom and Kris wants to smash it.

Growling to himself, Kris presses the locking mechanism on his desk and the door clicks lightly, pushed open a moment later as his top design specialist slides into the room easily, closing the door behind himself with purpose.

Kris doesn’t look at him, instead engrossed in one of the many reports on his desk. “What do you want, ZiTao?” Kris demands, not even bothering to mask the irritation in his voice. 

“I want you to stop acting like an overgrown teenager who just got dumped by his first girlfriend,” Tao says, dark eyes fixed on Kris as he saunters up to his desk.

Kris glares as hard as he can at him. “I don’t need you to patronize me,” he says lowly.

“Oh really,” says Tao, eyes widening as he cocks his head to the side contemptuously. “Because, after watching you lord around all week, I’m pretty sure you do.” Kris clenches his teeth as he stares at the designer who is usually more drama that a room full of pampered cats. “You’re not the only one with a complicated life. With complicated feelings that get out of hand and confused and wreck your perfect world,” Tao tells him, standing easily in front of Kris’s desk where most employees cower. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kris tells Tao, not wanting to be fed bull shit.

“Don’t I?” Tao says, with a hard look. “You go out, trying to meet people, perfectly comfortable with your publicly defined sexuality and preference and then you meet someone, someone who makes you feel comfortable and at ease and unlike how you’ve ever felt before and you want there to be more than just casual smiles and laughter,” Tao tells him, eyes stern as they look directly into Kris’s. “Then you feel confused and begin to question things but push them aside, getting more confused. And then, fuck it, you decide to hope, because maybe, just maybe, you’ll get lucky and the other person will feel the same way and you wont be alone in this mess.”

Kris says nothing, keeping his mouth shut as Tao talks as images and flashes of emotion pass over him from the past two weeks. Images and emotions he has been avoiding at all costs.

“And then, just when you think things are perfect, you step over that line, and at first it seems like everything is golden,” Tao continues, taking a small step towards Kris’s desk as his eyes narrow. “Everything is perfect and wonderful and then suddenly it’s not, because you’re being pushed away and your world falls apart.” He takes a few deep breaths through his nose, just watching Kris. “Are you sure I don’t know what I’m talking about?”

Kris doesn't say anything, can’t say anything, as he looks back at Tao. The darker man straightens with a sigh before he luxuriously slumps into one of Kris’s leather armchairs. 

“I thought so,” Tao says, smirking faintly. “What you need is to stop feeling sorry for yourself, think for a second about everything, and then chose a course of action.”

“What course of action-“ Kris begins to growl but Tao holds up a ringed hand with definite purpose, successfully shutting him up.

“This man,” Tao begins and holds up a finger to keep Kris from making a sound as his mouth opens to comment. “This man you’ve met. From what I’ve gathered, you both displayed relative degrees of interest.”

“How much did Luhan tell you?” Kris demands and Tao smirks.

“Luhan is irrelevant and surprisingly innocent,” the designer says coyly. “Anyway, you both made advances towards each other and are both, from what I can discern, relatively confused as to what you are feeling towards each other. Though him probably more than yourself.”

“And what makes you say that,” Kris says, skeptically.

“Because you work with male models, most of whom are some degree of gay and thus more familiar and comfortable with the idea of same sex relationships,” Tao says simply, examining his nails. “You deal with me on a weekly, if not daily basis. If you were completely straight, you would have quit or killed yourself ages ago.”

“I admire your faith in my character,” Kris grinds out as Tao smirks. 

“My point is that, while you were somewhat more accepting of your emotions, he, as far as I can estimate, is not nearly as knowledgeable about his.” Kris gives him a questioning scowl and narrowing of eyes and Tao huffs a laugh. “And judging from, well, you being you, you made the first real move and, though he may have initially been accepting, he got confused and pushed you away, which you immediately translated into absolute rejection, something which you’ve never truly have had to contend with, what with you being you.” Tao gestures to him vaguely. “And this resulted in the mess that has been this whole week.”

“Fantastic,” Kris says, looking at Tao from across his desk. “You’ve proven that you can psychoanalyze my life.” He sits back. “Now, if you’re quite done making me feel just as bad as I did before you walked in here, please get the fuck out of my office.”

Tao just shakes his head and plays with his fingernails. “I’m not here to psychoanalyze you,” he says simply. “That job is for Luhan and Lay, though they sometimes do a shit job. I’m here to help you fix this mess you’re making worse with every minute that passes.”

Kris’s eyes narrow even further but he can’t deny his morbid curiosity. “Enlighten me.”

“First, you need to stop moping about getting rejected and think of the reasons why he pushed you away,” Tao says, holding up one finger. 

“I don’t know wh-“ Kris begins but Tao stands up, effectively cutting him off again.

“Yes, you do,” Tao tells him firmly. “Why did he push you away? Think Yi Fan.”

Kris frowns and tries to think through his headache. “He was confused,” Kris says, looking up at Tao, whose face is impassible. “He seemed to be completely comfortable one moment and then alluding to something different at another and didn’t know where to settle. But he kept giving signs he was fine with things-“

“Think about what you’re saying,” Tao says. “Carefully.”

Kris scowls and breathes through his nose. “He responded,” he says simply.

“Immediately?”

Kris looks at Tao’s black shirt. “No,” he admits.

Tao nods. “Put yourself in his shoes. What would you have done?”

Kris snorts. “I would have responded and things would have been fine.”

Tao shakes his head, frowning heavily. “You’re not putting yourself in his shoes. You’re putting yourself in his place.”

Kris sighs. “Those are the same things,” he groans. 

“No,” Tao says firmly. “They’re not. Putting yourself in his place is thinking about what you would do in his situation. Which is be commanding and taking what you want without reservation because you’re Kris Wu and you want to kiss back and take him.” Kris nods. “Putting yourself in his shoes means thinking like he thinks and behaving like he behaves in these sorts of situations.”

Kris thinks for a moment. Just sits and thinks. About Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol. The Head of the Recording Department at Planet Records. Who lives alone in an apartment where he orders too much take out. Whose best friend owns a fort café and whose limbs are too awkward to fit anywhere. Who beatboxes when he doesn't realize it and laughs when he’s nervous and who speaks before he thinks. Who hasn’t dated in two years because of a heartbreak he had never seen coming. Who trusts blindly but never knows how to be truly romantic, despite his constant fantasizing.

And it makes sense.

“I would have pushed away,” Kris admits. Looking up at Tao. “I wouldn’t know what to think or feel and would have run before-“ and he pales, realizing the answer before he can say it.

Tao is smiling. “And what do you need, Park Chanyeol?” he asks, thin mouth sliding easily into a smile. 

“To know I’m not wrong and that I can be happy like this,” Kris says, standing up and searching his desk frantically. 

“So what do you need, Kris Wu Fan,” Tao asks, though he knows Kris already knows the answer. 

“I cant’ find it,” Kris growls out, feeling increasingly frustrated. 

“Find what?” Tao asks, and Kris somehow knows he’s smirking. 

“His goddamn number,” Kris says, throwing papers off of his desk now.

“You’re hopeless,” Tao says. Kris glares at him and Tao turns around, waving his hand over his shoulder. “Come on. I know what you need.”

“And what do I need, Tao?” Kris demands, tripping over his feet slightly as he stomps around his horrifically messy desk.

“Kim Jongin,” Tao says simple and turns to smile at Kris in an infuriating manner. 

“And why do I need Kai?” Kris snaps, ignoring the startled look Luhan gives both him and Tao as they exit the CEO office without any significant injury to either party.

“Because he also works part time at Planet Records. He took two jobs to help pay for his mother’s hospital bills while she recovers from breast cancer,” Tao explains easily. “He also shares an apartment with Planet Records CEO’s secretary, Do Kyungsoo, who is extremely close with Park Chanyeol. So,” he concludes, turning a corner down the hall. “You find Jongin, you find Chanyeol.”

Kris just stares at Tao in slight wonder. “How do you know all this?” he asks, somewhat awestruck. And a little bit creeped out. 

Tao just smiles at him, gesturing into a side room. “I talk to people,” he says. “It does wonders when you actually listen to what they have to say.”

Kris opens the door and is met with a group of suddenly terrified faces. He spots Kai, the new part time model they had hired about a month ago. “You,” he says, pointing to Kai and the poor boys face suddenly drains of all life. “We’re going on a field trip. Now.”

Kai steps forward on clearly unstable legs. “Wh-where?” he asks, flinching as the words leave his mouth.

Kris doesn’t frown or smile, just looks at him. “To your other job.”

Kai looks extremely confused. “To my other… Why?”

Kris looks down the hall, towards the exit. “Because I have some unfinished business I need to attend to with your superiors,” he says and Kai looks, if anything, more confused and terrified than ever.

-

“What do you mean he’s not here?” Kris demands, standing at the top floor of Planet Records and glaring at the CEO’s secretary who is glaring back with eyes that are far too big for his face.

“I mean he’s not here,” Kyungsoo says again, now standing up to look across his desk at Kris. “Suho put him on temporary leave after he showed up here on Monday looking like he’s just been dragged across the bottom of a river.”

“He- what?” Kris just stares at the secretary, who is full out glaring at him now, eyes filled with dislike. 

“Did I lisp?” Kyungsoo hisses, narrowing those large eyes and Kris suddenly feels small, like he’s back home and short and his mother is glaring at him for spilling dish soap everywhere. “He’s not here. And if he doesn’t show up on Monday with his act together, he never will be again.” He pauses and seems to take a calming breath, eyes closed. When they open again, he’s looking at Kai. “Jongin, please get him out.”

Kai nods, a look of concern flashing over his face before he turns to Kris. “Um-“ but Kris ignores him, still looking at the secretary.

“Where can I find him?” he asks in a rush of words.

Kyungsoo just turns hard eyes at him. “I won’t ask you to leave again,” he says. “I’ll just call security and have you thrown out.”

Kris’s eyes never leave the glaring secretary as he allows Kai to lead him back downstairs to the lobby, thinking absently to himself that Kyungsoo would be an excellent friend to have if this is how he responds to potential threats.

In the elevator, Kris tries to think of some way, any way to contact Chanyeol. And then he realizes he’s been an idiot. “Kai,” he says turning to the boy beside him, who starts slightly, turning big beautiful eyes towards him. 

“Yes, sir?”

God, this kid is beautiful. How no one snatched him up before Kris scouted him he’ll never know. “Do you know Park Chanyeol?”

“Well, yeah, everyone here knows him,” Kai says, shrugging before seeming to realize who he’s speaking with and adding a fumbled ‘sir’ at the end before turning scarlet.

Kris’s face softens slightly. “How do you know him?” he asks, and Kai looks back at him, slightly less nervously but still very twitchy.

“He trained me,” Kai says, a hint of affection staining his voice. “I work under him in the recording department. He’s been teaching me how to run the programs and letting me edit a few things.” He smiles and Kris feels its warmth. “He’s actually really great when he’s not brooding.”

“Brooding?” Kris says, eyebrow raised.

Kai nods and looks at the elevator control panel. “Yeah, though he’s been a lot better these past few weeks. And he’s always almost annoyingly happy whenever Baekhyun drops by-“

“Baekhyun,” Kris blurts out, eyes widening and Kai stares at him in wonder.

“Do you know Baekhyunnie?” Kai asks, and Kris finds it a little amusing that Kai also uses the nickname. 

“Not important,” Kris says, turning his full attention to Kai. “Do you know how to get to his fort café?”

“RumbleMuffins?” Kai asks, frowning in confusion.

“That’s the one.”

“Yeah, everyone knows how to get there,” Kai says, still looking confused. “But-“

“Get me there,” Kris says and Kai, after a moment of just looking at Kris, smiles and shakes his head slightly.

“You know, you’re not as scary as everyone says, sir,” Kai says, soft voice flowing easily.

Kris lets his mouth twitch at the elevator doors. “Don’t you go ruining my reputation, Kai,” he tells the youth beside him. “I’ve worked too hard for it.”

-

Chanyeol isn’t at RumbleMuffins. Baekhyun is though, and he nearly beats Kris to the floor with a pillow before the other finally communicates to the shorter infuriated man that he wants to find Chanyeol and try to fix that he messed up. Baekhyun takes a few heavy breaths to calm down before walking away and dropping his pillow on the pile for customers.

“You’re lucky I’m forgiving,” the shorter man says, shooting a glare at Kris.

“Forgiving,” Kris repeats. “You just beat me to the ground with a pillow.”

“You practically broke my best friend,” Baekhyun says with a pointed look before he glances behind Kris and waves. “Nice to see you, Jongin.” Kai looks like he wants to melt into the wall.

Kris wants to run a hand through his hair but knows it will destroy it if he does. There are times he hates he runs a modeling business. “I know, and I’m sorry,” he says looking around the café. Half of the people are still watching them curiously, as if just waiting for Baekhyun to emit a warrior cry and attack Kris with a milk jug. “But it’s confusing and complicated and-“

“And everything I already know,” Baekhyun cuts him off. He scrawls something down on a napkin and hands it to him. “If you fuck this up, I’m going to make you wish you’d never been born.” He gives Kris a stern look. “And you,” he adds, pointing to Kai. “Please tell me you told that model you like him, because if you come in here one more time whining about sexy dancing hips and forgetfulness, I’m stuffing your mouth with used coffee grinds, got it?”

Kai flushes bright red and nods, gulping and trying not to look at Kris, who has his eyebrows raised in amusement. And they leave the café, the napkin from Baekhyun clutched tight in Kris’s hand and Kai brighter than a fire truck. 

“Kai,” Kris says and the younger boy turns to him, looking petrified.

“Please don’t fire me,” the young man says, voice tumbling out before Kris can continue. “I’m sorry and I’ll never mess up again and I’ll always be on time and I promise I’ll stop teasing Xiumin about his face and I swear I’ll never even look at Lay again. Just please please please don’t-“

Kris holds up a hand and Kai immediately shuts up. “I’m not going to fire you,” he says, and Kai looks like he’s going to fall over. “I’m going to have you go home early, without pay cut, so you can try to get over whatever panic attack you’ve been having for the past hour.” Kai swallows. “And you are, under no circumstances, to tell anyone of what you have seen or heard today.”

Kai nods fervently and Kris wants to smile at him but restrains himself. “Oh, and Kai,” he says, as the other makes to leave. “I’m sure Yixing would be very flattered to know you find him attractive. And you might like to know he’s not nearly as forgetful as he seems to be.” 

Kai turns, if anything, even more red before bolting, tripping over his feet slightly as he attempts to move as fast as humanly possible away. Kris grins to himself as he gets into the car, handing Taemin the napkin from Baekhyun and telling him, with conviction, “Drive.”

They arrive ten minutes later outside of an apartment complex that has Kris raising his eyebrows at. He contemplates asking Taemin if this is the right address and then realizes that’s insulting to both Taemin and Chanyeol. Insulting to Taemin because the man is never imprecise when it comes to his job and Chanyeol for looking down on his choice of living quarters.

“Apartment 304,” Taemin says from the drivers seat and Kris looks at him briefly. Taemin smiles. “Just thought you'd like to know,” he says, waving the napkin at Kris.

“Thank you, Taemin,” Kris says, nodding and getting out of the car easily. He walks up the front steps and then realizes he has no way of getting in. He looks past the bars of the entrance at the slouched doorman. “Um, excuse me,” he says and the old man looks up, watery eyes disinterested. “I need to get upstairs.”

The old man just stares at him for a moment. “You live here?” he wheezes out, squinting at Kris. 

Kris frowns slightly. “No, but-“

“Then too bad!” The old man sings and grins toothlessly. 

Kris wants to break down the bars but knows that, first, it would be impossible and second, it certainly wouldn’t get him points with the doorman. Instead he just breathes through his nose. “I’m sorry,” he says throwing on his stage smile. “But I really would appreciate it if you could let me in. I have to see a friend who I’m very concerned about and it’s rather urgent, so if you would be so kind as to-“

“Hey, gramps, did they pick up the recy-“ 

At the sound of the familiar voice, Kris’s head immediately jerks up, eyes practically burning as he recognizes Chanyeol standing in the lobby of the building, arms burdened with what looks like a months worth of recycling. And even though Chanyeol looks even worse than Kyungsoo described him (dragged across a river bottom) and ‘trainwreck’ doesn’t even begin to cover how horrible his… everything looks, at this moment, he’s the most welcome sight in the world.

And Kris suddenly can’t breathe and his mind is blank and, for all his running around today and life discoveries, he realizes he is completely unprepared for all the emotions suddenly pouring through him and has no idea what to say.

Chanyeol, it seems, has forgotten momentarily how to move. “Uhh,” he gargles slightly as he stares at Kris. The old man in the corner is looking between them with interest. 

“You know this greaser, Park?” the old man croaks, jabbing a finger at Kris.

The old man’s voice seems to have snapped Chanyeol out of his trance, and he takes a sudden step backwards. He blinks at Kris from behind too large glasses before looking away, his brows furrowing slightly. Kris panics slightly inside and wants to just climb through the bars to Chanyeol. “Chanyeol,” he says, voice slightly more crackly than he wishes it would be. 

The other man looks up from nothing and meets his eyes. “Hi,” he says, and seems to be stuck there as far as conversation goes. 

“Can we talk?” Kris asks and silently prays that Chanyeol will say yes because he’s pretty sure his legs will give out if Chanyeol says no and these horrible feelings will suffocate him.

Chanyeol looks at him for a moment before walking away, disappearing behind a wall and Kris feels all of the air in the world were sucked from him. He sags against the bars of the door as the doorman watches him, eyes shining and clearly entertained. 

There’s sounds coming from somewhere but Kris doesn’t really care. He just keeps playing over in his head watching Chanyeol walking away. Again. Well, at least this time he’s not running like a frightened uncoordinated deer. 

And then suddenly the door he’s slouched against is rattling and Kris looks up, startled, into the face of Chanyeol, who isn’t looking at him and instead is frowning at the lock on the door, which seems to be giving him some trouble.

“Chanyeol?” Kris says, watching the other and not entirely registering the fact that Chanyeol is actually letting him in. Chanyeol says nothing, simply unlocks the door and steps aside to let Kris into the building. Kris does so, feeling slightly numb. 

Up close, Chanyeol looks even worse. His eyes have huge bags under them and he looks worse than exhausted. His hair is a tangle that can only be achieved after days of avoiding proper care, and his clothes look like something he dragged out of his childhood. Still, Kris can’t tear his eyes from him. 

Chanyeol finally looks up at Kris and meets his eyes, his own guarded slightly and more wary than Kris has ever seen them. “What?”

“You look horrible,” Kris says without even thinking and wishes he hadn’t an instant later when Chanyeol glowers at him. 

“You can leave now,” Chanyeol says, gesturing to the now open door before making to walk back up a flight of stairs, arms no longer laden with bottles and cardboard. Kris feels something cold rush through his chest. 

“No, wait,” he says, reaching forward automatically and grabbing Chanyeol by the wrist as the other moves away from him. Chanyeol freezes and Kris can hear his own heart beating in his ears. “I can’t let you walk away from me,” he says and hates how cheesy that sounds.

Chanyeol turns to him, eyes wide and with a sort of awkwardly stunned expression on his face. “Are you trying to be poetic?” he asks and Kris wants to smack them both in the face. “Because that was terrible.”

“I’m not trying to be poetic,” Kris says, frowning as he steps closer to Chanyeol, feeling slightly relieved when the other doesn’t pull away. He breathes through his nose. “I’m trying to be honest.”

“So, you’ll, what, never let me go?” Chanyeol says, his voice painfully skeptical and Kris can see his eyes hurt as the words tumble from his mouth. “Always be there? Follow me into the dark?”

Kris blinks. “Are you just reciting song titles?” he asks and Chanyeol scowls.

“Never mind,” Chanyeol says and turns away from Kris again, only to be tugged back by Kris’ hand firmly around his wrist. He glowers, trying to shake it off and Kris tightens his grip, grabbing Chanyeol’s other hand in his own and forcing Chanyeol to face him. He makes a split second decision before, hands still firmly around Chanyeol’s, turning and dragging Chanyeol, who lets out a protesting yelp, up the stairs and to his apartment.

Chanyeol is yelling things at him that don’t register up the three flights of stairs and only stops when they’re standing outside his apartment door. “How do you know where I live?” he asks, frowning and Kris just wants to mash their faces together. 

“Open that door or we’re talking where all of your neighbors can watch,” Kris says, face set.

Chanyeol stares at him a moment before dragging out a key and swiftly opening the door, stepping inside before Kris and kicking something unidentifiable aside. Kris just stares at the now open door, trying to mentally prepare himself and gain purchase of the now raging feelings invading his chest cavity.

“Are you coming in?” Chanyeol says, turning to look at him with irritation scrawled across his features.

“Is it sanitary?” Kris asks and apparently it’s the wrong thing to say because the next second Chanyeol’s fist has connected with his jaw and his face is erupting in pain.

Though, thinking back, Kris figures that, in some respects, he probably deserved that.

-


	6. Chanyeol 3

Chanyeol 3:

It had taken Baekhyun a good forty five minutes of coaxing and hauling to get Chanyeol off of his front step and onto the couch, full of incoherent sentences and Chanyeol looking far too confused and worried for Baekhyun’s comfort. Now, sitting on the couch, Baekhyun is hoping that his friend has a viable excuse for looking like a panicked forest animal and hasn’t just lost his mind.

“Okay,” Baekhyun says, laying a reassuring hand on Chanyeol's knee. “Mind telling me what has you looking like you just witnessed the apocalypse?”

Chanyeol turns to him, eyes wide, swallows and then says in a rush of words: “IwentouttodinnerwithKrisanditwasawesomeandIfelthappyandwewenttoaparkanditwasprettyandIfeltlikeIwasdreamingandthenhekissedmeandsuddenlytherewereFEELINGSandIdidn’tknowwhattodosoIpushedhimintoapondandBaekhyun! I don't even know anymore!”

Baekhyun just stares at Chanyeol for a moment, trying to process what the other had said. “Okay, start again and try, please, to speak a little bit slower.”

Chanyeol takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, sinking back into Baekhyun’s couch. “I went to dinner with Kris tonight.” Baekhyun nods to show he remembers this, keeping his eyes on Chanyeol's as the other keeps his own closed. “And it was nice. We had fun and I felt happy again and we argued over pasta and then we found this really nice garden thing and walked around and, good lord his hands are large.”

“Off topic,” Baekhyun says gently and watches as Chanyeol swallows, opening his eyes and looking at Baekhyun, definite confusion swirling in his eyes. “He kissed me,” Chanyeol says and all of the confusing emotions he’s been experiencing lately seem to pack themselves into that one sentence. 

Baekhyun just watches Chanyeol for a moment and Chanyeol sighs, leaning forward and dropping his face into his hands. “He kissed me and, I dunno. I just don’t know anymore. I don’t know, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun reaches up slowly and begins to rub soothing patterns on Chanyeol’s wide back. “He kissed you,” Baekhyun says softly, trying to keep his own emotions out of his voice.

Chanyeol nods into his hands, feeling like the only energy he has is being used up by just sitting here and trying to reason with the raging things battling in his chest. He can feel something trying to crawl up his throat and feels sick. “It was nice,” he admits and wishes that sounded less crackly. “Kissing him, I mean.” Baekhyun 'hm's softly to him. 

“Did you kiss him back?” Baekhyun asks softly, his fingers carding gently through the hair at the nape of Chanyeol’s neck. 

“I-“ Chanyeol has to swallow. Flashes from earlier tonight, from just an hour ago, race across his closed eyes and he feels his lungs contract violently. 

“Did you like kissing him?” Baekhyun asks instead, quietly understanding that Chanyeol can’t quite answer the first question yet. He isn’t ready to. Chanyeol just breathes to his knees for a moment, thinking back to the feeling of how Kris’s mouth had pressed against his own, how he had pressed back and how hot his hands had been as they passed over him. How everything seemed to glow.

“Yes,” Chanyeol says, surprising himself at his own conviction. “Oh God,” he groans. 

Baekhyun should be given an award for his patience. “So, care to tell me why you practically ran into my door in a wild panic?”

“I-“ Chanyeol chokes momentarily. “I pushed him into a pond.”

The hand rubbing gently on Chanyeols back stops and Chanyeol chances a glance at his friend. “You did what now?” Baekhyun asks.

Chanyeol sits up and throws his hands out slightly. “I was confused!” he protests. “And what else are you supposed to do when someone’s fingers suddenly slip into your pants?”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen suddenly. “Woah, what?!”

Chanyeol feels his face turn hot. “Not- He didn’t- well he kinda- down the back!” he tries to clarify but that doesn’t seem any better. 

Baekhyun has gone slightly red in the face. “So he kisses you, you’re okay with it, kind of, and then he shoves his hands down the back of your pants?”

Chanyeol just stares at Baekhyun for a moment, not sure if he should really answer. “Yes?” he says tentatively and Baekhyun gets a very nasty look on his face. “Look, anyway, I kinda just freaked out and pushed him into a pond and, I dunno, I was just confused and scared and didn’t really know what to think and it all just kept getting worse on repeat in my brain which is why I ran here and almost dry heaved on your carpet.”

Baekhyun sighs and begins rubbing Chanyeol’s back again, seeming to get his protective best friend instincts under control for now. “Chanyeol, whoever made you was destructively generous with how many emotions they gave you.”

“I hate feelings,” Chanyeol grumbled at his feet, frowning as said feelings made his chest hurt. “They’re too confusing and complicated.”

Baekhyun sighs again. “So, do you want me to go set all of Kris’s pants on fire or something?"

Chanyeol turns wide eyes at him. “Why would I want you to do something like that?”

Baekhyun blinks at him. “Am I somehow misunderstanding why you ran here in a near panic attack?”

Chanyeol sighs. “I pushed him into a pond,” Chanyeol says, rubbing his hands over his face, feeling suddenly tired. “I think that’s enough punishment. I doubt he’s been pushed into a pond before.” Baekhyun snorts.

“So then why did you run here?” his best friend asks, leaning in slightly.

“Because I don’t know what to do,” Chanyeol tells the floor, frowning.

“Pick up crochet?” Baekhyun says, smiling at his joke as Chanyeol gives him a withered look. “Sorry.”

“I-“ Chanyeol starts before pursing his lips and frowning again. “I don’t know where to go from here.”

“Well, do you want to end it with Kris in pond water?” Baekhyun asks, hand still soothingly traveling across his back. Chanyeol sighs and shakes his head. “Which one? You don’t want it to end or you don’t want Kris in pond water?” 

“I don’t want either,” Chanyeol moans and hates that as soon as he says it, he realizes it’s true. He doesn’t want it to end. He liked being with Kris in the crazy beautiful garden. He liked when the other had held his hand in his own ridiculously large one. He had liked the feeling of Kris’s lips against his. He likes Kris. Being with him makes Chanyeol… happy. “I like him, Baekhyun.” 

Baekhyun just looks at him, eyes slightly wide in understanding. “Wow,” is all he says.

“Holy shit,” Chanyeol says and stands up, beginning to pace. “Baekhyun, I just pushed the guy who somehow makes me happy into a pond because he kissed me.”

“And stuck his hands down your pants,” Baekhyn adds.

“Hand,” Chanyeol says, waving one of his own at Baekhyun as he continues to pace. 

“Excuse me?” Baekhyun says.

“Hand,” Chanyeol repeats shooting a glance at his friend. “It was only one hand.”

“That went down your pants,” Baekhyun says, appearing to be unable to get past this point of information.

“Baekhyun, they were my pants, not yours, and yet somehow this is bothering you more than it is me,” Chanyeol says, feeling exasperated.

“That’s because you’re an idiot and don’t seem to realize that having a guy stick his hand down your pants when you barely know him and he’s just kissed you for the first time usually constitutes as a big thing!” Baekhyun practically yells, waving his arms at Chanyeol. 

“Baekhyun! What do I do now?!” Chanyeol yells, trying to get them off the topic of hands and pants because it’s making him uncomfortable and all he can think about are Kris’s hands with relation to his pants and that’s not helping things. At all.

“What do you mean ‘what do I do now?’?” Baekhyun says, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“I mean what do I do?” Chanyeol asks, still pacing and running a hand through his hair. “Do I pretend like nothing happened? Do I call him and apologize? Somehow I feel like that wouldn't go over too well. _‘Hey Kris, sorry I pushed you in a pond. Wanna make out?’_ ” He groans at himself. “See?” He flops down onto the couch. “Baekhyun. Help.”

Baekhyun just turns to his now pouting friend and sighs. It’s going to be a long night. “I’m calling Kyungsoo.”

-

Kris doesn’t show up to speed dating. Chanyeol stands nervously at the refreshments table until Key tries to usher them to their seats. Feeling his heart in his mouth, Chanyeol shuffles up to Ryeowook and tugs his sleeve.

“Do you know if Kris Wu is coming tonight?” Chanyeol asks and Ryeowook gives him a briefly calculating look.

“His office called and told me he was canceling the sessions,” Ryeowook says, looking at him with well-masked suspicion. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Chanyeol says, with a small wave of his hand. “Thank you.” And with that, he turns and leaves, Ryeowook smiling softly at him as he watches the taller man leave.

The weekend is spent with Chanyeol going through minor panic attacks and frequent visits from both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo to try to keep him from accidentally hurting himself. By the time Monday rolls around and Suho sees Chanyeol (who looks like all genres of horrible), he seems to have been given the last straw. When Chanyeol (with some help from Kyungsoo) tells him why he looks like he’s been hit by a bus, Suho actually frowns at tells him he’s on temporary leave until the end of the week so he can ‘get his life back together or lose his job.’

Chanyeol promptly goes into a panic attack. He tries to call EXO M and gets to Luhan once before the other man mutters something about extremely horrible and dramatic people and infuriated superiors before slamming the phone down. All further attempts he gives are met with failure as all of the secretaries tell him that Luhan and Kris are apparently only accepting calls strictly related to business.

Chanyeol’s mind goes to the only possible conclusion: Kris hates him. 

And once again, the person he finally feels happy with is throwing him away.

Which sends Chanyeol spiraling into a complete pit of despair and he spends two days alternately just lying on the floor of his apartment starting at his ceiling fan and occasionally yelling “Why?” at it in misery and calling Kris only to be met with refusal by very stressed sounding secretaries.

Then, Baekhyun finally manages to break down his door on Wednesday and, after an hour when Kyungsoo finally arrives and has a mild panic attack at the state of Chanyeol’s apartment and laundry (not to mention physical wellbeing), the two settle down and give Chanyeol one of the weirdest pep talks he thinks has ever occurred in the history of the world.

It’s something along the lines of: ‘you’re too good for him even though he’s the CEO of a male modeling company and he has no idea what he’s missing aside from the fact that you’re clearly a very strange duck who has very odd facial expressions so you should just forget about him even though that might be impossible so why don’t you just forget about emotions and become a robot instead.’

All of which Chanyeol finds decidedly unhelpful. 

“Look,” Baekhyun says. “Maybe he’s just super busy.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Then why does Luhan keep refusing to talk to him too?”

“I dunno,” Baekhyun says, scowling at Kyungsoo. “Maybe he’s super busy too.”

“I still don’t think it makes sense that Kris is so preoccupied that he can’t return a simple phone call,” Kyungsoo says, glowering at nothing. “He was the one who kissed you, right?”

Chanyeol just nods deadly towards his ceiling fan. Kyungsoo gives him a sympathetic look as he folds clothing. 

Baekhyun sits on the floor next to Chanyeol, petting through his very messy hair gently. “This is ridiculous,” he sighs, turning to Kyungsoo with sad eyes. “We finally encourage him enough to open up again and it has to be a prick from a male modeling agency.”

“Life hates me,” Chanyeol mumbles, rolling onto his side and staring at his phone.

“We don’t hate you,” Kyungsoo says gently.

Chanyeol smiles just a little bit. “I know,” he says, and feels only marginally better.

As Thursday rolls around and Chanyeol wakes up in the tee shirt he put on Monday. He makes himself a cup of coffee and stares at his phone for an hour before dialing the number to EXO M, getting some twitchy secretary on the other line. “Look,” he yells, finally losing his patience. “I know Kris and Luhan are there and for some _ungodlyknown reason_ they are refusing to talk to me and I demand to be put through to someone who might _vaguely remotely_ know why they refuse all civilized contact.”

There is a startled silence on the other end before he is being transferred. 

“Lay speaking,” a new voice says and Chanyeol blinks.

“Um, hi,” Chanyeol says.

“Can I help you with something?” Lay says, and Chanyeol wonders if he can.

“I just want to know why Luhan and Kris refuse to talk to me,” Chanyeol says, feeling like perhaps being as brutally honest as possible will be effective.

Lay pauses. “Kris is refusing to take any calls not related to business since…” he trails off. “Who is this?”

Chanyeol swallows. “Park Chanyeol, from Planet Records.”

“Holy shit,” Lay says abruptly and Chanyeol’s eyes widen in shock.

“What?” he asks, feeling uncharacteristically surprised.

“You pushed Kris into a pond, that’s what!” Lay almost yells at him and Chanyeol flinches.

“Yeah, about that-“ Chanyeol tries to start but Lay won’t let him.

“Do you have any idea how he is right now?” Lay demands. “Do you? He’s like a vicious fire monster! He’s fired five people and basically is a walking breathing hating envoy of Satan!”

“And this is my fault?” Chanyeol snaps, feeling like Lay is blaming him for everything that could ever go wrong with the world.

“ _You pushed him into a pond_!” Lay yells.

“ _I just want to talk to him_!” Chanyeol hollers back.

“ _He doesn't believe in socialization anymore_!” Lay yells at him, voice rising in temper. “ _Because the last time he did that, someone pushed him into a pond!_!”

“ _He kissed me!_ ” Chanyeol finds himself practically screaming, wildly gesturing with the hand not holding onto the phone. “ _And then stuck his hand down my pants!_ ”

“ _So you should have kissed back and told him he was awesome and then no one here would be feeling on death's doorstep!_ ” Lay almost screeches at him. “ _And who cares about where his hand goes? You're selfish!"_

__Chanyeol closes his eyes and just breathes, deep and labored breaths, in and out. “Look, I just want to talk to him. I want to try to fix… this.”_ _

__“Yeah, well,” Lay bites at him. “He doesn’t walk to talk to you. Or anyone. Ever again. So good job, you’ve destroyed whatever goodness was left in the world.”_ _

__And with that, the line clicks and the call is ended and Chanyeol suddenly feels worse than he ever thought he could. He doesn’t even bother getting back into bed. He just curls up on his laundry and stares at nothing until it gets dark and he stares into the darkness, wondering what happiness is and how he could have felt it so acutely just a week ago._ _

____

-

On Friday, Chanyeol wakes up after only a few hours of sleep with conviction. He doesn’t know where it comes from or why he has it, but he does. It’s his last day to get his life back in order (something he has forgotten about in the past few days as he spent all his time moping and brooding) to keep his job. He looks around his apartment and figures there is a good place to start. He puts on his glasses. They make him feel more professional for some reason, aside from helping him see things.

Chanyeol starts by throwing pretty much every dirty bit of clothing he has (everything he owns basically) into the washing machine and turning it on. Then he looks at his kitchen and, after a moments decision, decides that’s a task for another day. He makes his bed (kinda), cleans the floor, gives the bathroom a once over (good enough), and puts all the blankets he has been using as a bed in his living room away. Then he looks towards the door and remembers that he should probably do the recycling.

Especially since it has been building up since last month because he hates recycling with a burning passion. 

Instead, Chanyeol makes himself some breakfast and finally cleans his kitchen. It takes over an hour. When he’s done, he feels satisfied enough to just stand and admire his handy work. Then he goes and prods through all of the work he’s been procrastinating on for the past month for an hour before remembering the recycling and finally getting up and looking at the disaster by his door.

Sighing, Chanyeol sits down and spends forty five minutes just trying to figure out what is sorted into what before he finally has some sort of separation system and things are at last in small relatively accurate piles. Gathering them up, Chanyeol manages to pull open the door and make his way haphazardly downstairs. 

Vaguely, Chanyeol thinks he should have checked the time before leaving. The garbage men usually collect trash around eleven in the morning and he hopes that, aside from all of his fidgeting, that he hadn’t missed them. Coming down the last flight of stairs, he calls to the old doorman, glancing up. 

“Hey, gramps, did they pick up the recy-“ Chanyeol begins to say and then finds his voice dying in his throat as, instead of meeting the watery old eyes of the doorman, he’s greeted with Kris, large hands wrapped around the bars to the building, and staring at him in what could possibly be awe. 

And suddenly Chanyeol is feeling all of the things he had sworn with conviction he would never feel again crashing through his chest and he just wants to curl up and run away again and beat the living shit out of the man in front of him. He’s elated and furious and hurt and confused and he isn’t sure if he’s relieved to see the other man or enraged because the other has basically been rejecting him all week every time Chanyeol is rebuffed on the phone.

He wants to scream, to cry, to throw something. Instead, his slightly open mouth just emits an “Uuh” sort of sound and it’s entirely dissatisfying as he stares at Kris. 

Then the old doorman speaks. “You know this greaser, Park?” he croaks, stabbing a finger in Kris’ general direction and his voice seems to slam through Chanyeol’s minor paralysis. He takes a few startled steps backwards, blinking furiously at Kris before looking away quickly, feeling his throat begin to burn. 

“Chanyeol,” Kris says, voice cracking slightly and Chanyeol feels something catch in his chest, which already has begun to hurt. He pauses against his better judgement and looks back up to meet Kris’ eyes.

Chanyeol swallows around a pool ball sized lump in his throat. “Hi,” he says, because what else can he say?

Kris looks a little lost and a little desperate and a little pathetic, pressed up too close to the bars of the door. “Can we talk?” he asks and Chanyeol just looks at him, trying to stop the flood of conflicting responses and emotions suddenly pounding through him. God, he hates feelings. He thought he had sworn them off this morning.

Internally his mind yells, _Damn you feelings! I can’t quit you!_ and he hates his brain.

Chanyeol thinks of his immediate options. Option one is he lets Kris in and they talk and maybe something productive will happen. Option two is he leaves Kris standing outside his building and locks himself in his bathroom for an hour and just stares unhappily at his reflection. Option three is he lets Kris in and punches him in the face. Option four is somehow a magical combination of all of the previous options and ends with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo giving him cake.

Chanyeol turns, his mind vaguely settling on ‘open the door first’ and goes to drop his recycling. Because he can’t talk to Kris or punch him in the face if his arms are full of plastic, glass, and cardboard. Walking back into the main area, he sees Kris, now pretty much slumped against the door, head down and looking so depressing that Chanyeol can’t help but feel slightly bad for the other.

Slightly. 

Sighing silently to himself, Chanyeol walks quietly up to the door and reaches for the lock, fiddling with it to try to open the door and frowning when the damn thing doesn’t work properly. It’s something that always irritates him. “Chanyeol?” he hears Kris say and Chanyeol doesn't make any sign that he’s heard him. 

Kris hadn’t made any effort to return his calls all week so he can deal with a few minutes of the silent treatment, goddamnit.

Chanyeol steps aside, door unlocked, and waits for Kris to walk inside, which the taller man does, looking a little star struck. Chanyeol can’t quite bring himself to look at the other, that roiling feeling in his gut keeping him from raising his eyes. He doesn't know why, but he feels horribly nervous all of a sudden. Nervous and irritated. 

Finally, Chanyeol looks up at Kris and Kris looks like he’s seeing Chanyeol for the first time, his eyes searching as they move over his face and looking just a little bit desperate. “What?” he says, voice sounding foreign to his own ears.

“You look horrible,” Kris says, his low voice echoing around Chanyeol as the words register and he glowers at Kris. He wants to smack the other man across the face. He hasn’t seen him for over a week. Hasn’t talked to him. Hasn’t answered his goddamn phone or done anything apparently aside from act like a spoilt little shit at work and this is the first thing that comes out of his mouth.

Fuck second chances.

“You can leave now,” Chanyeol says, feeling cold and twisted as he gestures to the open door and turning, feeling more horrible now than he did before as he makes to walk back up to his apartment and curl up around himself. 

“No, wait!” Kris’ voice says from behind him and suddenly a too large and warm hand is closing around his wrist and Chanyeol freezes, eyes going wide as the familiar touch ignites a horribly pleasant and familiar leap in his stomach that he simultaneously wants and despises right now. “I can’t let you walk away from me,” Kris says, voice slightly lower and Chanyeol wants to laugh.

He turns, eyes wide and face skeptical. “Are you trying to be poetic?” Chanyeol asks, not entirely believing that Kris has just said what he has. “Because that was terrible.”

Kris frowns a little and steps closer. “I’m not trying to be poetic,” he says and Chanyeol doesn’t pull away as the other nears him. “I’m trying to be honest.”

Chanyeol doesn’t entirely know what he means by that and isn’t really sure if he wants to. He has too many things inside his chest right now. “So, you’ll, what, never let me go?” he says, the feelings from this past week building up in his throat before he can stop them. “Always be there? Follow me into the dark?” His throat burns and he hates it.

“Are you just reciting song titles?” Kris asks and Chanyeol scowls as deeply as he can.

“Never mind,” Chanyeol says, and tries to turn, to walk away again but suddenly Kris is pulling him back again and he feels a rush of panic and his stomach leaps from a familiar situation from just a week ago and his mind briefly flashes to the feeling of Kris’s mouth against his own and his warm hands on his skin. He glowers at Kris, trying to block out the images and failing, shaking his wrist slightly to try to get the other to let go. It doesn’t work. Instead Kris just looks at him for a moment before grabbing Chanyeol’s other wrist and suddenly dragging him up the stairs.

This is a terrible idea because, while Chanyeol is relatively coordinated when he at least moves under his own steam, he is an utter disaster when he is not in some control of his body at which point everything stops making sense and he’s all sorts of an awkward giraffe. He yelps and starts spewing random things from his brain, things such as “what are you doing?” “This is a violation of my rights!” “I’m being manhandled!” and “Assault can land you in jail and I’m pretty sure I can also accuse you of breaking and entering in some district courts!” He’s not really sure, but he’s pretty positive it’s loud and incoherent. 

Then Kris comes to a halt and Chanyeol blinks because they’re standing outside his apartment door and he knows Kris has never been here before. “How do you know where I live?” he asks, feeling his stomach drop and a nervous feeling travel up his windpipe.

“Open that door or we’re talking where all your neighbors can watch,” Kris tells him, face impassive and Chanyeol wants to slam his mouth against the other man's and pull his hair out. 

Instead of doing those things, Chanyeol just stares for a moment before sighing and taking out his keys, opening the door, and stepping inside swiftly, leaving the door open for Kris to follow through, kicking an innocently lying pair of shoes to the side. He turns to see if Kris has followed him and frowns when he sees the other still standing inside. “Are you coming in?”

Kris looks up at, meeting his eyes. “Is it sanitary?” he says and Chanyeol feels a rush of frustration before his fist shoots out, connecting solidly with Kris’s jaw and making pain streak up through his hand and arm. He hopes, shaking his hand slightly, that Kris has a similar sensation in his face.

“You’re an asshole,” Chanyeol says, hissing slightly as his knuckles smart.

“You just punched me in the face,” Kris say, a hand on his jaw, gently cradling the bone. 

“You had it coming,” Chanyeol mutters and shuffles into his apartment.

“I probably did. No, I definitely did.” 

Chanyeol freezes, his lightly throbbing hand cradled against his chest as he stares into nothing, not quite believing his ears. Slowly, he turns to Kris, who has a very strange expression on his face. It takes a minute, but Chanyeol realizes with a jolt, it’s apologetic. 

“We need to talk,” Kris says, and steps fully into Chanyeol’s apartment, closing the door lightly behind him. 

“Do we?” Chanyeol says and suddenly all of the irritation he has been feeling, all of the frustration, the disappointment, the self-loathing are weighing down in his chest, burning. “Because you’ve been avoiding me all week. I thought the last thing you wanted to do was talk.”

Kris’s eyes widen almost comically. “I’ve been-“

“Do you even know what a phone is?” Chanyeol snaps and then shuts his mouth firmly because it hurts. What hurts? He hurts. Why? Fuck off, he doesn’t know.

“You called me?” Kris says and Chanyeol wants to throw something.

“Yes, I fucking called you,” he snaps and his voice is venomous. “I wanted to try to talk to you at speed dating a week ago but you, ha ha, didn't show up. So I spent the weekend trying to figure out how to contact you on Monday and called Luhan but he was clearly PMSing or something and then spent most of the week arguing with terrified secretaries until one kid completely chewed me out and made me feel even worse than I have been all week and I was just forgetting what feelings were this morning and then you have to show up and ruin everything!” Chanyeol’s breathing heavily by the time he finishes his tirade and Kris is starting at him with quite an interesting expression on his face.

“You’ve been calling me all week,” Kris says and Chanyeol wants to cry. 

“Yes,” Chanyeol croaks out.

“Why?” Kris asks and looks forever lost.

“Because I wanted to sell you coupons,” Chanyeol snaps. “Why do you think I called you?”

“You pushed me into a pond,” Kris says, as if perplexed by too many things. 

Chanyeol flops his hands at his sides and begins to wander aimlessly around his apartment. “Why is that the only thing people seem to notice about this?”

“Because normally people don’t get pushed into ponds when they kiss!” Kris says, looking at Chanyeol with something close to incredulity.

“You kissed me and I was confused!” Chanyeol snaps. “Then you tried to put your hand down my pants and I didn’t understand and had too many things in my brain so yes, I pushed you into a pond!”

“I did not stick my hand down your pants,” Kris says, frowning as he begins to follow Chanyeol around the apartment, their wandering path taking them nowhere. 

“You kissed me and I was confused!” Chanyeol repeats.

“You kissed me back!” Kris says, voice grating.

“Of course I kissed you back,” Chanyeol yells, waving his hands wildly. “What else do you do when the person who makes your chest explode with too much glitter presses their face to your face?” Kris just looks at him for a second before Chanyeol yells, “ _You presss back!_ ” 

“Then why did you push me into a pond and run away?” Kris asks, voice suddenly soft and Chanyeol just feels tired.

“I was confused. Like I’ve said four times, I was confused.” Chanyeol runs a hand through his hair, grimacing when he realizes how horribly dirty it is and tangled. “I didn’t really know what I was feeling and it wasn’t until five hours later and lots of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo that I even had a vague understanding of everything that had been going on the past two weeks. So, yes, I ran away.”

Kris is watching him closely and Chanyeol just feels tired again. He just wants to this conversation to go away and to never have to happen in the first place so he can curl up with limbs that don’t quite fit right and hands that are too big and breathe in expensive cologne and a faint hint of old trees that seems to linger about the other man. 

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol says, voice sounding rough and distant to his ears as he looks away, anywhere but at the man before him. “I didn’t actually mean to push you into a pond. It just happened.” He swallows. “I didn’t mean to sprint and fall over my own feet like some sort of defective moose. That was probably my survival mechanism, because you looked really intimidating sitting in pond water.

“I’m bad with this whole thing and it still doesn’t really make sense to me,” Chanyeol continues, feeling some of the heaviness lifting from his shoulders as he talks. “I haven’t felt really happy since my ex left two years ago and basically haven’t let anyone near enough to me to break that streak but I guess I was just kinda blind sided because suddenly I was remembering what it is like to feel happy and smile too much and I didn’t know what it was because I’ve been faking them for so long and-“

Chanyeol is cut off by the gentle brush of fingers on his jaw and he jerks, looking up to see Kris standing close in front of him hand hesitantly hovering near his face, and eyes surprisingly gentle. 

“Why are you apologizing?”

Chanyeol frowns and takes a small step back, eyes going to Kris’s hand because he can’t quite take looking at his eyes right now. He grabs Kris’s hand and begins playing with the fingers, something he’s been wanting to do since he saw them. “I pushed you into a pond,” he says, frowning at Kris’s knuckles.

“You’re an idiot,” Kris says and Chanyeol can see him shrug.

Chanyeol glowers. “You’re an asshole,” he snaps back, fingers tightening over Kris’s hand, feeling his stomach burn slightly. “Who doesn’t answer their phone.”

“I didn’t know it was you,” Kris retorts and Chanyeol drops his hand. “I had my calls limited strictly to business.”

“Then you’re just a huge asshole!” Chanyeol snaps back.

“I didn’t know you would call!” Kris protests.

“What else would I do?” Chanyeol says, frowning all sorts of frowns. “Come running into your office in hysterics and spray paint everything to wildly express myself through primal street art?!”

“Do you even think about the things you say?” Kris asks, looking at him in agitated confusion bordering on amusement.

“ _No!_ ” Chanyeol yells. “Things just shoot from my mouth like poorly aimed torpedoes and I don’t care! Why is everything impossible? Why are you here? Why am I even here? What are feelings and why won’t they just go away?” He stands, fuming and breathing heavily for a moment before looking up at Kris. “Why are you here?”

Kris looks slightly startled because of the question. “Because I stopped thinking about myself and feeling self righteous and realized that you were confused,” he says, slowly, as if remembering an old book. “I realized you were confused and I was being an idiot for not seeing that and that you need to know that it’s okay to be happy. That you can feel happy and not have to run, because maybe this time you won’t have your heart broken.”

Chanyeol stares at him for a long moment. Just looks at the man Kris Wu, in his very nice clothing and very attractive face and long tall body and good hair. Stares at the man who is full of confidence and yet so much exhaustion from the life he leads. Who throws himself into his work and looks at everything with varying degrees of skepticism and calculation. Who likes Americanos because they’re simple and wont lie to him. 

“You’re a poet,” Chanyeol says, arms limp at his sides. 

“I’m Shakespeare,” Kris says and takes a small step towards Chanyeol, a soft smile playing about his lips. “And I think I should be the one apologizing.”

Chanyeol looks up at him, eyebrows raised slightly as that deliciously happy feeling begins to bubble inside his ribcage. “Even though I’m the one who pushed you into a pond?”

“I’ll let it slide,” Kris says, moving closer and Chanyeol isn’t so mad anymore. 

“How big of you,” Chanyeol says, feeling a smile play over his mouth as he looks up at Kris, the other settling easily into his personal space, a large hand resting gently over his own. “Do people know that deep down inside you’re a big softie?”

“It’s a fact I like to keep hidden,” Kris says, his own mouth quirking as his breath ghosts over Chanyeol’s face. 

“I’ll try to remember that,” Chanyeol says, before his eyes slip closed and he feels the press of Kris’s mouth against his and everything is suddenly perfect again and happiness doesn’t begin to describe the wonderful glow wrapping itself around him.

-

They never really properly apologize. Nor do they properly accept each other’s apologies. They don’t really say anything to anyone else, instead answering with either small smirks and quirks of lips or really stupid grins and twitching eyes.

They don’t go to speed dating again. Instead they go real dating and Chanyeol sees just how impressive Kris’s apartment really is and gets to experience how much he really does love those large hands. Kris realizes just how many stupid faces Chanyeol makes on a daily basis and how much of a musical genius he really is when he’s not confused and slightly brooding. 

Baekhyun eventually apologizes for beating Kris violently with a pillow though Kyungsoo never really seems to trust him. Suho, however, loves him immediately because suddenly Chanyeol is once again the Happy Virus and sometimes even Kris doesn’t know how to do anything but just laugh and smile along with him and his enthusiasm. Luhan loves Chanyeol and Lay almost stops forgetting things and all of EXO M has no idea really what to do when their CEO suddenly isn’t scowling at everything.

Tao becomes less moody and Kai becomes less shy and Chanyeol and Baekhyun have to teach Kris how to make a proper fort after he fails to do so miserably on one of their visits to RumbleMuffins. Chanyeol still gets Vanilla Lattes and Kris still gets Americanos but neither of them really care, because they drink them together and insult each other meaninglessly and maybe, just maybe, feelings aren’t so bad after all.

-


End file.
